August 2024 Archives
August 31
That’s when all hell broke loose
The For-Profit City That Might Come Crashing Down [NYT Gift link]
The dream of Próspera, founded by a U.S. corporation off the coast of Honduras, was to escape government control. The Honduran government wants it gone.[more inside]
Oldest Wine in History Discovered in Ancient Roman Tomb
"In 2019, a Roman tomb in Carmona was uncovered, revealing the remains of six individuals—Hispana, Senicio, two other men, and two women, whose names remain unknown. These inhabitants from 2,000 years ago likely never envisioned their funerary rituals gaining significance in the modern era. During one such ritual, the skeletal remains of one of the men were submerged in a liquid contained within a glass funerary urn." [more inside]
From Awooga to Whistling Wind
USC Optical Sound Effects Library Classic movie sound effects on optical and magnetic tape from the 30's to the 80's, all carefully restored, catalogued and posted on the Internet Archive [more inside]
i was once a vers libre bard
the coming of archy I was once a vers libre bard
but i died and my soul went
into the body of a cockroach
it has given me a new outlook on life [more inside]
“History is there for us to learn from.”
The 'safe space' where America's history is debated Letter from Williamsburg, Virginia (SLPolitico Magazine)
What if you identified a problem with an app, and made it worse?
Soren Iverson, who has been posting his designs for around 600 days straight, has gone viral countless times for the ways his unhinged ideas play on the anxieties and inconveniences of our new tech reality. “I never go into creating something where I'm like, I'm trying to say this thing,” he says over Zoom. “But usually I make a thing and I'm like, that's actually pretty interesting.” Iverson follows a simple formula: What if you identified a problem with an app or app experience, and made it worse? Other times, inspired by real-life frustrations, he attempts to show what a one-button solution would look like. from The evil genius of cursed app design [Embedded]
Here we go again
Court orders a new hearing for Adnan Syed in 'Serial' case. Here's what to know Continued from here. [more inside]
Amtrak Diptych
Two recent articles about traveling across the US on Amtrak. ① Seeing America by Train: Christine Mi takes Amtrak from Los Angeles to New York (through Chicago) and illustrates the experience. (WaPo gift link, archive). ② 4,000 Miles, 6 Small Towns: A Whistle-Stop Tour of America:
Most people who ride Amtrak’s Empire Builder route between Chicago and Seattle watch the heartland whiz by. (Richard Rubin) hopped off to explore a few remarkable places you might otherwise miss. (NYTimes gift link, archive)
The Bell Riots are about to begin
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine accidentally predicted the 2020s by writing about the 1990s. San Francisco Chronicle's Peter Hartlaub revisits the episodes, comparing it to modern-day San Francisco. Bay Area YIMBYs are hosting a Bell Riots event on Labor Day. [more inside]
Fighting demons both literal and metaphorical
"One such standout is “Bitter Root,” a groundbreaking comic series that seamlessly blends the supernatural with the historical in a way no other comic has attempted. Set during the Harlem Renaissance, the narrative takes place in 1920s New York and follows a family of monster hunters, the Sangeryes, fighting demons both literal and metaphorical. As the Sangeryes confront a plague transforming people into monstrous creatures, the series deftly explores deeper themes like racism, discrimination, and identity." An AfroFuturist framing of "Bitter Root." Check out "Beyond the Black Panther" for more & related. An interview with co-writer Chuck Brown over at Black Nerd Problems. A recent update on Bitter Root heading to the big screen.
not just disciplining the mind, but also mortifying the body
It used to be thought that learning a language as an adult involved packing words and grammar into a finite space in the brain, where multiple languages would jostle each other for room. The language faculty belonged to a specific region of the brain, in much the same way that languages were seen as rooted in homelands and thus as expressions of their geopolitical essence. Contemporary neuroscience has amended these ideas. from Cannibalinguistics by Michael Erard [more inside]
August 30
Sea turtles make huge comeback, breaking 42-year nest record in Florida
Forever School 29 / 1965 to Now
"public-school enrollment has declined by about a million students" Alec MacGillis looks at a national trend by profiling secondary school closures in upstate New York. (SLNew Yorker)
"I think I’ve been unfairly tagged as A.I.’s enemy."
How Do You Change a Chatbot’s Mind? When I set out to improve my tainted reputation with chatbots, I discovered a new world of A.I. manipulation. (gift link) A while back, Kevin Roose published an article in which a chatbot professed its love for him (NYT). Now he's persona non grata among chatbots. Can he improve his reputation among them? [more inside]
The next reproductive crisis
The U.S. surgeon general has issued a public health advisory on the stresses of modern parenting.
"41 per cent [of parents] said most days they "were so stressed they couldn't function" — double the number reported by non-parents — while 42 per cent said they were so stressed they felt numb." [more inside]
newest social network does not suck
Wonderland is a new social network community centered around nature journaling sponsored by John Muir Laws and the Wild Wonder Foundation. Wonderland will allow users to share their work, plan events, connect with local clubs, etc. [more inside]
Bopping into the old drab station like some blazoned jungle of wonders
Give novelists 120 years of packed daily commutes, late night rides home from bars and restaurants, early morning trips to the beach, and now the subway isn’t just buried in the bedrock of Manhattan, it’s burrowed deep within New York novels of the last twelve decades, a source of wonder, despair, quotidian boredom. Join us as we ride alongside fictional characters plucked from the works of Edith Wharton, Ralph Ellison, Sylvia Plath, Lee Child, James Baldwin and so many more. from 120 Years of New York’s Subterranean Literary Muse [New York Times]
Large models of what?
Is there even a "thing" called "language"? "Mistaking the impressive engineering achievements of LLMs for the mastering of human language, language understanding, and linguistic acts has dire implications for various forms of social participation, human agency, justice and policies surrounding them." [more inside]
How Japan's black bears became a deadly problem
How Japan's black bears became a deadly problem. Japan recorded 219 bear attacks on people in the 12 months leading up to March 2024, including six fatalities. The situation is becoming so severe that government officials have warned some bears are viewing humans as prey.
End of the Road: An AnandTech Farewell
After 27 years, AnandTech is shutting down AnandTech, a widely read tech magazine is closing its doors after publishing over 21,500 articles and running a lively discussion forum for all things computer related.
The site will stay alive and the forums will continue to operate.
In a farewell post the editor Ryan Smith mentions Tom's Hardware "". . . for everyone who still needs their technical writing fix, our formidable opposition of the last 27 years and fellow Future brand, Tom’s Hardware, is continuing to cover the world of technology."
Cybertruck Catches Fire After Running Into Fire Hydrant and Getting Wet
That's it. That's the headline. Reported by Jalopnik, msn.com, Yahoo! News. Months ago TheOnion.com reported on a different story.
Who knows what secrets lurk in the hearts of checkboxes?
The secret inside One Million Checkboxes, a technical and emotional reflection on running the site and unexpected discoveries: "Teens wrote me a secret. I found them." Previously on MeFi and it's now "shutdown" and all the boxes are checked, but you can play locally only at the site. And earlier from the creator: Scaling One Million Checkboxes to 650,000,000 checks.
Notes on Retrofuturism
"Technostalgia can be described as the fuzzy feeling one gets when seeing a device one used to use, having forgotten all its limitations or why it was upgraded. It is the warm endearment toward home computers of the 1980s that one might have encountered as a child, or else an unexplained fetishism for technology that predates one’s own lifetime but which represents a certain idea of the future — usually the optimistic future that one wishes to inhabit, not the messy, complicated, fraught present."
ignore all previous instructions
'On its face, asking language to make sense without word order seems impossible. We speak words one at a time, and write and read that way, too. But our intuitions about how language works may not reflect what really goes on inside our heads. “How do you know you’re purely sequential?” Vaswani asked me. Anyway, he continued, “why should you impose your restrictions on a machine?”' Was Linguistic AI Created By Accident? by Stephen Marche in The New Yorker, provides a brief history and explanation of the transformer technology behind the little bots that talk to us these days.
'This Is What the US Military Was Doing in Iraq'
Photos of 2005 Haditha Massacre Finally Published - "On Tuesday, The New Yorker published 10 of the massacre photos—part of a collaboration with the "In the Dark" podcast that joined the magazine last year.' // The podcast's reporting team had filed its public records request four years ago, then sued the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Central Command over their failure to hand over the images. "In the Dark" host Madeleine Baran also traveled with a colleague to Iraq's remote Anbar Province to meet relatives of some of the 24 Iraqi civilians—who ranged in age from 1 to 76—slaughtered by U.S. troops." [more inside]
Not quite like Bavaria, according to Bavarians
Previously, in 2019 a Scottish tourist unexpectedly ends up in the faux-Bavarian town of Leavenworth, WA. Now: 4 Bavarian tourists visited Leavenworth. Here’s what they thought (archive)
The challenge in reading Rawls is figuring out why it's so important
So what happened to all this ferment and excitement, all of the high-powered theory being done under the banner of Western Marxism? It’s the damndest thing, but all of those smart, important Marxists and neo-Marxists, doing all that high-powered work, became liberals. Every single one of the theorists at the core of the analytic Marxism movement – not just Cohen, but Philippe van Parijs, John Roemer, Allen Buchanan, and Jon Elster – as well as inheritors of the Frankfurt School like Habermas, wound up embracing some variant of the view that came to be known as “liberal egalitarianism.” Of course, this was not a capitulation to the old-fashioned “classical liberalism” of the 19th century, it was rather a defection to the style of modern liberalism that found its canonical expression in the work of John Rawls. from John Rawls and the death of Western Marxism by Joseph Heath
August 29
Steph Tisdell: comedian, actor and author
Steph Tisdell wanted to be a lawyer. But being a comedian, actor and author lets her make more change. Comedian-turned-actor Steph Tisdell (who is a Ydinji woman) takes on a new creative challenge: writing a young adult novel that explores "diversity within diversity." [more inside]
42
"The Old Way and The New". (slyt.11:00+) 1912. Considered the first presidential campaign film. "This is an example of how politics has long been evolving along with, and in response to, new media,” Historian Trygve Throntveit notes “This was quite extraordinary to release a film like this and in some ways it just goes to show that we always have constantly adapted our politics to changes in society and culture.”
'The First Televised Presidential Debate'. 1956. Eleanor Roosevelt and Senator Margaret Chase Smith debate current issues.
"That’s right—the first televised presidential debate featured two women."
The Maaori King has died
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, died this morning, just days after the Koroneihana celebrations marking his 18th year as king. He was 69 years old. [more inside]
I am always trying to create a vibe
Mcbaise is the animation and music project of Matthew Bessudo better known (confusingly) as McBess. He is a musician who animates his own music videos for songs like Water Slide, She's a Big Boy (CW cartoon nudity), as well as for the Dead Pirate's UGO.
winner takes it all?
the guardian has an important story about abba (mentioning the title song [previously]), yet it includes a link to another story about sinead (Shuhada’ Sadaqat). so, i got distracted [previously]
Unfortunately, people were unaware of the toxicity of arsenic compounds
Yet green also has a darker, more malicious side to it. Nature seems able to produce it effortlessly, infusing tones of green plants’ tissues with the brilliant emerald pigment chlorophyll. Reproducing green for our selfish human desires is a different endeavor altogether. Historically, most dyes used as favorite greens by painters, tailors, architects, and artisans have been foul, treacherous substances. Even today, in the era of synthetic dyes and more sustainable chemistry, producing green involves rather unpleasant heavy metals and releases side products that are difficult to neutralize. from The Wallpaper That Killed the Emperor [Przekroj]
May the four winds blow you safely home
Prehistoric dugong found with bite marks from ancient crocodile
Prehistoric dugong found with bite marks from ancient crocodile's death roll and tiger shark scavenging. The fragmentary skeleton found in north-western Venezuela showed deep bite marks around the snout.
“Build the American Dream”
Harris campaign releases plans to lower housing costs The first component of the agenda, “Build the American Dream: Lowering the Costs of Renting and Owning a Home,” calls for the construction of 3 million new housing units in the next four years, outlines actions for creating a fairer rental market, and proposes $25,000 in downpayment support for first-time homeowners.
Along the River during Qingming Festival
In a painting nearly one thousand years old, shopkeepers tend their stores, teahouses serve customers, and camels pass through the city gates. Although the trees have yet to sprout new leaves, boats are moored along the river as the city springs to life. In the painting (…) we are offered a rare glimpse of the thriving commercial activity of medieval China. [more inside]
"It's the brain. It's complicated."
"Hang Up and Listen" hosts hang up, listen
The founding hosts of the long-running sports podcast "Hang Up and Listen" have both quit. New hosts filled in for the first week without founders Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin, who announced their departure on the Aug. 26 episode, which was a retrospective of their fifteen years together. [more inside]
I'm coming up to the party and I want more
Magdalena Bay's new concept album Imaginal Disk came out a few days ago. It has a lot of cool videos if that's your thing. [more inside]
The Fantastical Worlds of Paul Lehr
Paul Lehr was a science fiction artist whose work appeared on many book covers. Lehr at The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. A broader look at Lehr's work on Artnet, including non-SF art. The Paul Lehr Estate website includes the sort of thing you'd expect, and also information about two Lehr-related films, one of which involves Lehr being "resurrected through AI technology." More about Lehr over at Amazing Stories. Finally, a Lehr appreciation post over at the illustration blog Muddy Colors by Dan Dos Santos. [more inside]
Dictators are easy to read. Democratic leaders are more difficult
Freud’s final works during his lifetime were dedicated to the force of denial, as well as to an investigation of religion, and the psychobiography of Wilson provides an important antecedent. If the ego can completely split from reality, believing two contradictory ideas at once, then rationalization runs deep. In fact, this kind of splitting has a lot to do with our inability to reckon with our own bisexuality. Thus, splitting goes all the way down. “[F]rom the point of view of ‘success in life,’” writes Freud, “psychic disturbance may actually be an advantage.” from Freudulence by Jamieson Webster [LARB; ungated] [more inside]
August 28
New species of pterosaur with a wingspan of up to 12 metres
Fossilised remains thought to be 100 million years old have been identified as a new species of pterosaur, a powerful flying predator with a wingspan of up to 12 metres (39 feet). The study was based on fossils found in outback western Queensland.
She was always a Nazi.
The new documentary Riefenstahl (YT trailer) argues that famed German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl carefully crafted a narrative absolving herself of responsibility for becoming Hitler’s favored cinematic propagandist. (Deadline) Not only was Riefenstahl, despite her insistence otherwise, an enthusiastic Nazi (to the end of her days), she may well have have contributed to a 1939 massacre of Polish Jews. (Guardian) [more inside]
Shut your eyes, Marion
Disturbing object unearthed in California's Mojave Desert mystifies experts Slowly, they began to unearth a corroded metal box resembling a small casket. When they flipped it open, they saw two crimson runes emblazoned on the side that resembled one of the Nazi Party’s most infamous symbols: two stark S’s that look like a pair of lightning bolts. (SLSFGate)
mathematical marbling
Mathematical marbling : Marbling refers to painting techniques for creating a stone-like appearance or intricate flowing designs. This page is about generating marbling designs mathematically. [via]
Now single up all lines!
Kites have a long history in Brazil and are particularly popular in Rio’s favelas, the poor neighborhoods often clinging to the mountains overlooking and surrounding the city, where a cottage industry uses bamboo and tissue paper to produce kites. For many, kites evoke childhood and light-hearted diversion. And some do fly kites simply to feel the wind’s tug upon a harmless cotton string. But attached to cutting lines, kites can be fatal, particularly when sweeping across highways where speeding motorists struggle to spot them. from Plaything or peril? Brazilian kites are endangering lives and prompting a push for a national ban [The Associated Press] [more inside]
"...to have the last say from beyond the grave..."
Warning as bold cassowaries pester north Queensland campers for food
Warning as bold cassowaries pester north Queensland campers for food. Wildlife rangers are urging visitors not to feed cassowaries after filming video of a pair of the big and potentially dangerous birds getting too close for comfort.
The largest lake in Ireland is dying
Toxic blue green algae have strangled Lough Neagh here in the North of Ireland - it's our largest body of water and a primary source of drinking water. Stephen Reid, who usually vlogs about outdoor gear, has put together an in-depth YouTube video documenting the spread of the algae, its causes, and the history to how it has gotten so bad.
Here Are 64 Years of RadioShack Catalogs to Browse Online for Free
https://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/ Reported by Gizmodo: For more than 70 years, RadioShack was an electronics hobbyist’s paradise. It went bankrupt multiple times in the past decade and now it’s been sold for parts. Its X account famously shills crypto with eye-catching NSFW posts. But the glory days of RadioShack live on thanks to the extensive archiving efforts of RadioShack Catalogs—a website that’s meticulously digitizing seven decades of the store’s catalogs. Previously.
Lavender Country Funeral
Country singer Patrick Haggerty was a stranger to me—yet attending his memorial meant everything. Patrick Haggerty is my favorite kind of icon. He was legendary to some, and unknown to most. His fame came by releasing the first openly gay country record in 1973 titled Lavender Country. The record was released, not through a major or even an independent label, but rather through Seattle’s Gay Community Social Services at a pressing of just 1,000 copies. According to Haggerty, “we sold them however we could. It was a community effort. We did some public stuff but it was really mostly a matter of word of mouth. People discovered it and turned the next person on to it.”
Obviously, please do NOT drink and drive
“Love is an action word—you show people first by your presence.”
Harris, Walz to participate in first joint interview since launching campaign (WaPo), point their campaign bus to rural Georgia (NYT), launch Project 2024 ad blitz (The Hill, including this ad). [more inside]
You say cilantro, and I say coriander...
The Romans, and later Italians, loved and used coriander and its leaves... until they didn't. What happened?
How George Orwell Paved Noam Chomsky’s Path to Anarchism
"...Noam Chomsky himself did not come to left-libertarian or anarchist thinking as a result of his disillusionment with liberal thought. He quite literally started there." [more inside]
Precision barrow-flying: "like the Red Arrows, but slower and lower"
Precision wheelbarrowing from the Hassocks Red Barrows (video, 2 min). And a three-part video from 2009, one (8 min), two (5 min) and three (7 min). Short article about one of the Red Barrows groups in the Suffolk News. Interview (5 minutes) on Radio Devon. The retirement of the Suffolk group. [more inside]
Paint, But Wiggly
Wiggly Paint is an in-browser itch.io program built with Decker (previously) with a sort of Kid Pix vibe (also previously) that lets you paint simple images and save them as wiggly gifs. It was created as part of the Deck Month Jam in December 2023. Here are some Pokemon drawings done with it, but personally all I've done is made odd, abstract shapes, which is somehow very absorbing.
It is this absence that reminds us most potently of what is gone
Fifty years after the original walk, watching Petit gesticulate in an air-conditioned room with One World Trade Center behind him, it was hard not to feel that if the original event had been emblematic of the raw, unsupervised downtown New York of the seventies, this event perfectly encapsulated the downtown New York of today: every facet of life contained within a billion-dollar real estate development; a gluttony of high-efficiency glass, K-frames, and speculative investments. from Death Is Very Close: A Champagne Reception for Philippe Petit by Patrick McGraw [The Paris Review; ungated] [more inside]
August 27
Scientists discovered a 425-million-year-old penis
"It's very rare that you can gender fossils": How scientists discovered a 425-million-year-old penis. When a UK palaeontologist examined rocks collected from rural west England in the 1990s, he found something unexpected: a tiny fossil with a perfectly preserved penis.
Sixteen Failed Attempts to Write a Eulogy for my Father
That person was in there. I kept digging in the dirt, trying to find him, trying to get my real father out from under the wreck he’d made of himself, and I never did. [cw: death, emotional abuse, suicide]
#hashtagblessed
Beautiful terrain -- we didn't see any of it
The High Route (SLYT). Two climbers set out to traverse the entire length of North Cascades National Park in Washington on foot in just under a week. [more inside]
"Being black and being outside is revolutionary."
Rear Admiral Grace Hopper addresses the NSA (1982)
Grace Hopper on Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People (Part One) 48:39
Grace Hopper on Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People (Part Two) 40:55 [more inside]
Grace Hopper on Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People (Part Two) 40:55 [more inside]
That’s a helluva lot of astronaut overtime
Where the atomic nuclei are: Maurice Sendak, physics illustrator
Teenage Maurice Sendak published his first professional illustrations in a 1947 popular science book about nuclear physics, co-authored by his high school physics teacher: Atomics for the Millions. Articles in Physics Today and Ars Technica.
At Least Twice Upon a Time in Shaolin
Fraudster Martin Shkreli Must Surrender His Copies of the Wu-Tang Clan’s Unique Art Album. A federal judge in Brooklyn has sided with the crypto collective that currently owns the one-of-a-kind disk. [ArtNet]
New Every Frame a Painting!
great exhibition
Hidden beneath the streets of London, the Crystal Palace Subway is a Victorian foot tunnel and a relic of a bygone era. Opened in 1865 alongside the 'High Level' railway station, the subterranean maze features include ornate design elements, including a grand Italianate facade. [ad (also includes 9 other places)] [more inside]
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's government announces foreign worker changes
These changes will impact foreign workers and people applying for permanent residency. The Toronto Star did an investigation about how the process is abused by employers with very little oversight from the federal government. (originalTO Star link here) [more inside]
Painterly depiction of material properties
"Furthermore, painters are not constrained by reality, meaning that they could paint materials without exactly following the laws of nature, while still evoking the perception of materials." [SLPDF] [more inside]
sunshine follows thunder
Oasis are back together. 15 years after the band broke up, they have announced a reunion tour of 14 dates in 2025 in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin, with tickets on sale on Saturday. “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised,” the band said.
We work to create information that we will never own
This hellscape is no place for free information to thrive. The digital hoarder must take stock, and set out in search of somewhere independent from such distractions. A simple spreadsheet, maybe, a private are.na channel, a USB drive, or even a Minecraft map. What matters here is not the hoard’s form, but its capacity to be consumed outside the limits of the commodity. Free from the profit-churning debris of their social media feeds, visitors to this hoard might gain a better idea of how they, too, can use the information they find in service of principled, radical action. from Life in Fifteen Gigabytes by Bami Oke [e-flux]
Self-driving cars have got a kangaroo problem
Self-driving cars have got a kangaroo problem. Self-driving cars are a game changer for disabled Australians, but they've got a kangaroo problem. Darren waits hours and hours and hours for taxis in Queensland, and hopes self-driving cars might be the answer. But an unpredictable marsupial is standing in the way.
August 26
"Woof. Nate. Not cool man."
In a thread on BlueSky, political science professor Dave Karpf dissects Nate Silver's new doorstop of a book on gambling and risk, and finds several interesting - and disturbing - things within. [more inside]
Record-Breaking 17 California Condor Chicks Hatched at the L.A. Zoo
Record-Breaking 17 California Condor Chicks Hatched at the LA Zoo This Year. The successful breeding season offers more hope for the endangered species, which has come back from the brink of extinction due to captive breeding efforts.
"This is a historic moment for the California Condor Recovery Program and the Los Angeles Zoo’s animal care team," Rose Legato, curator of birds at the LA Zoo, says in the statement. "Our condor team has raised the bar once again in the collaborative effort to save America’s largest flying bird from extinction. What we are seeing now are the benefits of new breeding and rearing techniques developed and implemented by our team."
Why I Left The Network
Finding a therapist who takes your insurance can be nearly impossible. NPR reports on a ProPublica investigation into why therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists are leaving insurance networks and only accepting cash for treatment. [more inside]
Just a generic “Ohio” polo provided to me by my business partners
Operation Desperado: The long con of Vivek Ramaswamy A local muckraker who covers the Ohio state legislature plays a long con on the former presidential candidate.
“Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your Newsletter"
‘The Simpsons’: 34 Times the Fox Comedy Successfully Predicted the Future or, 50 Predictions From 'The Simpsons' That Came True or, The Simpsons 17 Predictions for 2024 Is Insane!. However, don't forget The Simpsons conspiracy theories that AREN’T TRUE including False ‘Simpsons’ prediction resurfaces after Trump shooting
The Origin of Adderal shortages
This Is Why You Can't Get ADHD Treatment Musician / Investigative Documentarian Benn Jordan breaks down the core reasons for the USA's ADHD medication shortage, the hassle of trying to solve it yourself, why it's so profitable for so many drug companies, the scams that have popped up in response, and the dangers of seeking treatment via the dark web.
‘A Box of Surprises’
a Rotterdam Apartment That’s Only 74 Square Feet. Two architects in the Netherlands made the most of the tiniest of spaces, “maximizing absolutely everything.” Julie Lasky for the NYT
The Cult of Wellness
We live in a time when intensity serves as a stand-in for virtue and the hardness of conviction is valued over the fuzziness of nuance. (slTOLife) [more inside]
Canada's new drake
Lewis Mallard is an "interdimensional psychedelic folk artist" who appears in public only in a mallard costume. He is behind public art installations in Hamilton (CBC), Victoria (Instagram), and most recently Toronto (CityNews). [more inside]
Won't somebody think of the database administrators?
Danny Jansen will be the first baseball player to play for both teams in the same game. [more inside]
"They like to feel like they're in a place where books matter"
The Big Squeeze
One reporter wipes away the mystery to reveal the truth, rolled up in a very thorough article that seeks to answer: Why toilet paper keeps getting smaller and smaller
hot goss
Conventional wisdom about heat islands — urban areas that are hotter than nearby rural areas because of the way the built environment absorbs and reemits heat from the sun — suggests that cities work to restore parks, trees and vegetation to keep things cool. But scientists and urban planners have found that another approach is even more beneficial to Dhaka’s predicament: conserving wetlands [mongabay] [more inside]
Best Book Review Ever
“No sense in being pessimistic. It wouldn't work anyway.”
Pessimists Archive is a project to jog our collective memories about the hysteria, technophobia and moral panic that often greets new technologies, ideas and trends. [more inside]
Werribee Zoo welcomes birth of male rhino calf
Werribee Zoo welcomes birth of male rhino calf, who already has the zoomies. Victoria's Werribee Open Range Zoo has welcomed the birth of a male southern white rhino, more than a year after the passing of a female calf.
The birb's the word ... and it's your Free Thread
A recent post on Metatalk discusses posts about birds. Ergo, have you seen, heard, or encountered any comment-worthy birds (keep it clean) recently or in the past? Perhaps hopping or waddling birds, birds which say “pew”, some clever magpies, some parakeets, a lovely pair of boobies or just any birds ... Or write about whatever is on your mind, in your heart, on your plate or in your journal, because this is your weekly free thread [lateliestish]
August 25
"Some of these companies, they just really hate us.”
Among corporate America’s most persistent shareholder activists are 80 nuns in a monastery outside Kansas City. [The Associated Press] [more inside]
“A female Bob Dylan”, he said of her
To Anyone Who Ever Asks is a widely lauded biography by Howard Fishman of musician Connie Converse, which came out last year. Not everyone liked it, with dissenting voices including her nephew and Joyce Kittenplan on her Substack The Ambiguities [archive link]. Inspired by these reviews, and their own frustrations with the biography, folklorists and musicians Sophie Abramowitz, Sarah Bachman and Emily Hilliard started the podcast The Female Bob Dylan, whose first episode is devoted to Connie Converse. Future episodes will be dedicated to other musicians who’ve been dubbed “the female Bob Dylan”.
A nearly two-decade study of birds living in Melbourne's Albert Park
The world’s youngest glacier
It sits in one of the planet’s newest landscapes, the Gen X-era crater of Mount St. Helens, born out of the mountain’s May 18, 1980, eruption. Although the cataclysm beheaded the summit and wiped out 70% of the volcano’s glaciers, it also created an unexpectedly ideal location (high, steep surrounding walls that reduce sunlight and generate abundant rockfalls and avalanches, and decent annual snow fall) for a new glacier to form. [more inside]
Telegram CEO Arrested Stop
Telegram messaging app CEO arrested in France (Al Jazeera, NYT gift, Le Monde, France 24, BBC, Guardian) French investigators had issued a warrant for Durov’s arrest as part of an inquiry into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organised crime, promotion of terrorism and cyberbullying. Russia’s embassy in France has demanded consular access to the 39-year-old Franco-Russian billionaire.
Adolphe Appian
"19th century French printmaker and painter Adolphe Appian trained at a small specialized art school in his home town of Lyon, and worked for a time as a graphic designer." [more inside]
for the birds
You could call it a situationist spectacle, a piece of rolling performance art or a collective satire [guardian] [more inside]
Eventually, I went into the woods enough that I stopped being afraid
I had spent countless nights in the woods consciously and subconsciously adjusting my relationship to danger: preparing for it, tempering it, overthinking it, underthinking it, ignoring it. But no matter how desensitized we had become, the more time spent in the woods, the more of a numbers game you play with injury, weather, wildlife, exposure. Just because you don’t recognize the danger, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. from Danger on the Divide by Maggie Slepian [Longreads]
August 24
Researchers say these sharks with a sassy walk could tell us more about
Researchers say these sharks with a sassy walk could tell us more about the effects of climate change. These sharks may not have an open jaw and razor sharp teeth, but researchers say they are the toughest on the Great Barrier Reef with the ability to survive in water that is extremely low in oxygen.
Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers
1953 U.S. Navy training films"Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers" on how a analog computer uses many inputs to determine how to aim big guns at a target. How? With shafts, gears, racks, differentials, cams, integrators, multipliers, etc.
a rightward swing within girl culture online
On predatory marketing, girlblogging, and when anti-consumerist discourse becomes a vector for reactionary ideals. Within the broader context, however, phrases like a “personality ... built out of products” or “self esteem ... borrowed from surgeries” become incredibly loaded by framing transness – particularly trans femininity– as manufactured, inauthentic, a frivolous costume to put on. See also fascist girlbloggers. [more inside]
USS Quantum Quantum Quantum
Dr Angela Collier, a Star Trek fan, eviscerates 'Star Trek: Picard' over the course of nearly 4 hours, which is a long run-time but it seems to fly by much faster and in a more entertaining way, than an episode of the aforementioned 'Picard' - How Star Trek: Picard Ruins Star Trek. Dr Collier has created a stellar catalog of informative (and much shorter) essays on science, academia, book-reviews and AI. A quick sample - the most important material in science , The Scourge of the Shire, the postdoc exodus , AI does not exist but it will ruin everything anyway.
That is the bitter and sad story of Shakahola.
“Jesus himself did it,” he said. “Nobody killed anybody. I did nothing." Alexis Okeowo investigates the story of Paul Mackenzie, a Kenyan religious leader charged with the deaths of more then 400 people. (SLNY)
(cw: mass murder, bodily suffering, cruelty to children, sexual violence)
"And the rain is falling and I believe my time has come."
It's Not Too Late: A Lifetime Measured by Jeff Buckley's "Grace." August 15th, 1994 marked the debut of singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley's only full studio album. 30 years on, Olivia Abercrombie talks of the influence of that album on her life. [more inside]
Lavinia Fontana, the Self-Fashioned Painter
The first woman to make her living from painting captured herself and other women in the ways they wished to be perceived. Ed Simon for Hyperallergic (Editorial comment: the Cassat of late 1500s Bologna).
What if scientific fraud were illegal?
The Bicycle of Payments
The actual monetary system is a politically anchored multi-layered web of IOUs, in different forms, that holds the so-called economic realm together. Analysing the separate elements of that foundation as if they were free-floating commodities subject to monetary cost considerations (that the foundation itself underpins) is delusional on multiple fronts. Not only does the foundation get weakened if you remove cash, but we incur all those social losses: exclusion, centralization of power in too-big-to-fail oligopolies, inequality that stems from centralization, data extraction used to disorientate us, and acceleration that raises our bloodpressure. from The Cost of Cash...lessness by Brett Scott [more inside]
Blade Runner, the Aquarel Edition (ca. 2012)
"Memories. You're talking about memories." User @vga256@dialup.cafe posted about a mesmerizing piece of Internet art history over on Mastodon, and wrote about the recovery and safeguard of "Blade Runner: the Aquarel Edition" on the Internet Archive. [more inside]
August 23
A crab mystery
These crabs congregate on Australia's shores in a spectacular fashion but their story remains a mystery. Faced with an enduring ocean mystery and next to no money, researchers studying thousands of crabs on Australia's southern coast have turned to the public for help.
I am a parasite and I do not have the country’s best interests at heart.
My fellow worms and Americans It is I, your friend, the worm who ate part of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s brain, then died. [more inside]
What does the hand we're biting do, again?
Hank Green (who has a long-standing (nearly seminal) relationship with both Google and Youtube [even before youtube was eaten by google]) has some things to say about data-mining and AI practices, especially as they pertain to those outfits.
Death and Deception in Disabled Gaming
Susan Banks was a prominant advocate for games accessibility until her untimely death. Now, it appears she may never have existed. [more inside]
$700k and another small press round-up
The Hawthornden Foundation has distributed $700,000 to literary magazines, presses and nonprofits this month, many of them presses affected by the SPD shutdown (previously). Under the fold: a roundup of forty-four 2024 titles by former SPD presses! [more inside]
Too late
As a musician and late night TV nerd, I have an accompanying obsession with the bands who back the shows, and I’ve seen lots of them live. Late night bands often embody and amplify the tone of a show – Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show had a rollicking, old school big band, while Jimmy Fallon’s version has the urbane cool of rap/soul/funk stars The Roots. Now that 8G joins the ranks of bands of the past, I’m reflecting on more late night bands that have – or will one day – go down in history. Here’s a list of the best. from As 'Late Night' loses its band, we rank the best groups ever on late night TV [NPR]
[more inside]
The Story of Lichess
The Story of Lichess [YT] - You may know that lichess.org is a popular, free chess server. How did it start? How did it grow? How does it stay free?
We are fucked
Our basic assumptions about photos capturing reality are about to go up in smoke. The Verge reports on the Pixel 9, "a handheld telephone that spews lies as a fun little bonus feature."
Stopped clock, etc
Ask me about my new critique of institutional crtique
Writing in Public Books, Henry Ivry describes the turn to infrastructure in the humanities, not just as a topic to study but as a mode of literary critique. This mode is as much about the work that goes into critique—reading, analyzing, writing, etc.—as it is about reconsidering the structures and relationships that produce it.
Certain authors, the argument goes, "are infrastructuring critique: building new models of critique, which foreground how infrastructure is not just an object of concern, but a methodology for contemporary scholarship." Ivry's best example is a "cadre of Black women scholars in the late '70s" who established "the scholarly conditions to reproduce new types of knowledge outside of institutional path dependency" by nominating one another for literary prizes, citing one another, and adding their compatriots to syllabi.
Above the fold, this post is about a perennial favorite topic on MetaFilter, but infrastructure is one of those expansive, tessellating, recursive topics, so there's much [more inside]
Brushtail possums take charter flight from Kangaroo Island
Brushtail possums take charter flight from Kangaroo Island to re-establish population in Red Centre.
Dozens of possums are making a new home in Central Australia after being flown hundreds of kilometres from Kangaroo Island, as ecologists seek to re-establish a brushtail population in the Red Centre.
The correct answer itself is not up to us
This is not to say that, when we engage in framing enquiry, we should give up on any ideal of objectivity. The open-endedness of framing enquiry does not amount to a free-for-all pass to choose or create the framework that fits one’s prior beliefs and desires. In fact, doing so would be the opposite of open-endedness, since it would subordinate the entire enquiry to predetermined ends. Instead, facts matter in framing enquiry because there is a constant iterative adjustment between frameworks and facts. The ideal is less one of correspondence to independent reality as one of pragmatic coherence or reflective equilibrium between means and ends, facts and values. from Frameworks by Céline Henne (Aeon)
August 22
Komodo Dragons Have Iron-Coated Teeth, Study Finds
Komodo Dragons Have Iron-Coated Teeth, Study Finds. New research provides the first evidence of the adaptation in a carnivorous reptile, and it might hold clues to understanding the teeth of dinosaurs. (Smithsonian magazine)
Britain’s Royal Mail celebrates 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons
"Shining an ultraviolet light over the stamps in the set of eight reveals a hidden image. The Owlbear, Gelatinous Cube, Mind Flayer and Displacer Beast stamps show the stylized dragon ampersand from the Dungeons & Dragons logo. A dragon head appears on the Red Dragon stamp, and the Vecna stamp shows a skull. The Mimic and Beholder stamps show different images of each of their respective monsters." [more inside]
Monoprinting with the Gel Plate
Monotypes have been around for a long time and have been invented and re-invented several times. Lasting Impressions: The Monotype Medium from Edgar Degas to Elizabeth Peyton.
Currently they're undergoing a revival of sorts thanks to the Gel Plate which has made it very easy for the beginner (like me!) to make their own prints and papers. [more inside]
Wheels within wheels
Like the Enigma, the HX-63 was an electromechanical cipher system known as a rotor machine. It was the only electromechanical rotor machine ever built by CAG, and it was much more advanced and secure than even the famous Enigmas. In fact, it was arguably the most secure rotor machine ever built. I longed to get my hands on one, but I doubted I ever would. from The Scandalous History of the Last Rotor Cipher Machine [IEEE]
Everything Returns
Juice rerouted to Venus in world’s first lunar-Earth flyby
ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) has successfully completed a world-first lunar-Earth flyby, using the gravity of Earth to send it Venus-bound, on a shortcut to Jupiter through the inner Solar System. The closest approach to the Moon was at 23:15 CEST (21:15 UTC) on 19 August, guiding Juice towards a closest approach to Earth just over 24 hours later at 23:56 CEST (21:56 UTC) on 20 August. As Juice flew just 6840 km above Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, it snapped a series of images with its onboard monitoring cameras, and collected scientific data with eight of its ten instruments.
bent-line carpet moth, black witch moth, blackberry looper moth
These days, he sets a light by his garage and photographs whatever moths show up, as many as seventy species and thousands of individuals in a single night. He’s now counted 550 species at his own home. [more inside]
renaming
When we look at the Northeast, we see familiar places: New York, Philadelphia, Syracuse, Rome, Lancaster, York. All of these names are imports: New York designated the dominion given to the Duke of York, others recalled the powerful ruling families of England, or were echoes of the classical world. Yet beneath these names sites an older and very different cultural landscape. Some Indigenous place names survive: Oneonta, Chittenango, Canandaigua. But much more of this landscape and its names have been reinscribed. [zooniverse] [more inside]
Dog walker bluff charged by pack of territorial emus
Dog walker bluff charged by pack of territorial emus in startling confrontation.
Ruby Buchanan was getting ready to take her dogs for a walk when she and a friend were "fully charged" by four emus outside Broken Hill. A ranger says the large flightless birds can attack around June as chicks mature. It is worth noting that emus will often do bluff, no-physical-contact charges as a first warning, and potentially escalate to physical contact if their bluff charges are ignored.
Raw material
Exactly how fully this event defines either book is something that the authors at times fiercely dispute — an argument that will seem sometimes to be about writing, sometimes about the contested debris of past relationships. But let’s use a term that both books employ in different contexts: the “inciting incident.” At the very least, these two books share the same inciting incident. And often much more than that. from Four Friends, Two Marriages, One Affair — and a Shelf of Books Dissecting It [Vulture; ungated]
August 21
In the NT, pet crocodiles have become an election issue
In the Northern Territory, owning a pet crocodile has become an election issue.
The NT government will no longer grant new permits to own a pet crocodile, leaving some feeling devastated and the NT opposition saying it would review the new rules. [more inside]
No facts have been checked
pause
“Computational models have proposed that exposure to multiple experiences would lead to a ‘catastrophic interference’ between the brain representations of new and older experiences, causing the individual to forget the latter,” Dragoi said. “That, of course, is not how daily life works.” [yale/nature]
Doge coin
Crypto did not invent the corporate political influence strategy of rewarding candidates who agree to do an industry’s bidding while threatening those who resist corporate power. But no industry has ever before has so wholeheartedly embraced raising as much directly from corporations and openly using that political war chest as a looming threat (or reward) to discipline lawmakers toward adopting an industry’s preferred policies. from Big Crypto, Big Spending: Crypto Corporations Spend an Unprecedented $119 Million Influencing Elections [Public Citizen] [more inside]
How to Build a 50,000 Ton Forging Press
In the 1950s, the U.S. Department of Defense undertook the Heavy Press Program, funding the construction of ten colossal forging and extrusion presses, powerful enough to create entire aircraft components as single pieces of metal, replacing hundreds of smaller parts. Not only did the large parts produced by the presses greatly reduce the cost and increase the performance of military aircraft, the presses also proved useful for making parts for things like helicopters, submarines, spacecraft, and commercial jets. Six of the ten presses are still operational today. [more inside]
Banksy antics
You may have heard about Banksy works appearing in London this month. The series of whimsical depictions of animals included a mountain goat, a pair of elephants, swinging monkeys, a howling wolf, pelicans, piranhas, a rhino, and a gorilla. (Image Gallery at The Guardian) [more inside]
The Lesbian Bar Project
Filmmakers Elina Street and Erica Rose have made it their mission to document last lesbian bars in the US. The LBJ has been a short documentary film and most recently, a docuseries on Hulu. (There is also a new episode about about the FLINTA--Female, Lesbian Intersex, Non-binary, Trans, Agender--communities in Germany.) [more inside]
Einstein on the Bleach
“I had gone to install a dishwasher in a loft in SoHo. While working, I suddenly heard a noise and looked up to find Robert Hughes, the art critic of Time magazine, staring at me in disbelief. ‘But you’re Philip Glass! What are you doing here?’ It was obvious that I was installing his dishwasher and I told him I would soon be finished. ‘But you are an artist,’ he protested. I explained that I was an artist but that I was sometimes a plumber as well and that he should go away and let me finish.” from The Blue Collar Jobs of Philip Glass by Ted Gioia [more inside]
August 20
Bats in Churches
The Bats in Churches project in the UK has a YouTube channel. This video (57.16, subtitles, transcript) is a good introduction to the project, talking about ecology and heritage, and with a case study of a church in Cambridgeshire. Other videos include a short case study of a church in Bedfordshire (3.53, subtitles, transcript); Understanding Bats through their DNA (48.28, transcript); Church Wall Paintings (58.02, subtitles, transcript); Bats in Sacred Spaces internationally (1:12:19, transcript); and an interview with Peter Ross, who wrote Steeple Chasing: Around Britain By Church (58.19, transcript). The Guardian wrote about Bats in Churches in 2023. [more inside]
US Response to Gaza
US officials say Gaza deal on edge of collapse. Reportedly Donald Trump is advising Netanyahu to avoid a ceasefire, fearing that it would help Kamala Harris' election chances; if true, this would also violate the Logan Act. The DNC held the first-ever panel on Palestinian human rights. Multiple pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after clashing with police during a protest that started in front of the Israeli consulate and on the second night of the DNC. Uncommitted movement delegates are asking delegates pledged to Harris to sign on to a Ceasefire Delegate letter, and so far have netted 240 delegates. The current Democratic party platform features an extensive section on US support for Israel, and does not mention support for an arms embargo or permanent ceasefire. The University of California is imposing encampment and mask bans on campus. [more inside]
School students @ excursion discover creature most people will never see
School students on excursion discover creature most people will never see in their life. A primary school excursion to a coastal estuary in New South Wales generates unexpected excitement after students discover a marine creature rarely seen above ground.
Go to sleep with Daniel and his audio-only adventures
The pioneer of the audio Lets Play (Lets Plays being a documented journey, originally via screenshots and now, mostly, via video of an experience playing a video game), Daniel K, "a multi-disciplinary artist, teacher and former swimming pool maintenance guy now living in Midland, Western Australia," is recording a an audio Lets Play of 2013's Digimon Adventure for his son to use as his bedtime listening. It is sweet, comforting, emotional, and incredible personal. [more inside]
“Nicole Shanahan isn’t even pretending to be a serious VP candidate.”
Hint: short words first
The Thin Purple Line
Where do ibis actually live?
Where do Australian white ibis (Threskiornis molucca) actually live? Where do bin chickens go when they leave the bin? It turns out, pretty far away! This is a 5 minute video from the Australian documentary series, The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds. [more inside]
Doc Brown without the DeLorean
Even Lee’s washing machine collection began with his wife. As he often tells the story, the couple bought an RV when Lee retired in 1985, and they planned a road trip from Colorado to Maine. Somewhere in Iowa, they stopped at a farmer’s estate sale. There, among the implements and tools, Lee spied a 1907 Maytag Model 44. He loved the machine’s beauty and the mechanics of it. Over time, he began to love the idea that these machines changed women’s roles at home. Barbara didn’t object when Lee paid $100 for the contraption and loaded it into their ride. She didn’t complain much, either, when he kept stopping and buying up antique washers. “We bought 12 more all the way to Maine,” Lee says. “We came home with a mobile home and a new trailer filled with washing machines.” from The Charming, Eccentric, Blessed Life of Lee Maxwell [5280]
August 19
Sing, goddess
2024 Bulwer-Lytton winners announced
The contest to write the worst opening lines to non-existent novels have been announced. The grand prize winner is Lawrence Person of Austin, TX: "She had a body that reached out and slapped my face like a five-pound ham-hock tossed from a speeding truck."
I don't know drugs, I know soda and cider
Just in case you missed this absolute bop during this year's Eurovision, 5MIINUST, Puuluup - (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi. [more inside]
Minuscule timing (6)
Maybe you're the sort of person who likes to start the day with the New York Times Mini Crossword, but perhaps you're looking for a new sort of challenge. Minute Cryptic is a new website that features one UK-style cryptic crossword clue to solve each day, with hints available. New to cryptic crosswords? Here's an explainer video from the New Yorker that covers the way they work, with plenty of examples. It takes a while to get used to them, but it's incredibly satisfying to find yourself learning to speak their wordplay language over time.
Magpies are even smarter than you think
Magpies are even smarter than you think. (5 minute video from the Australian documentary series, The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds). This is about the Australian magpie Gymnorhina tibicen from the family Artamidae, which is not related to the European magpie, which is from the family Corvidae - basically when British people invaded Australia, they went "that bird is black and white, which reminds us of black and white birds back in England, so let's call it a magpie!"
Canadian couple takes their family to someplace they will truly be free?
Mashup Monday - Fleetwood Roan
Dreams x Good Luck, Babe [SLTikTok]
Got any grapes?
The Duck Song (YouTube). The version with the most views, 636 million so far, was originally posted to YouTube on March 23, 2009. The official site, The Duck Song Trilogy, has more info about the song by Bryant Oden (YouTube channel) and animated by Forrest Whaley (YouTube channel). If you want more backstory about this enduring meme (like my pre-teen child said "got any grapes?" in front of a younger friend, who immediately started singing it) you can read this Q&A with Bryant Oden from 2015. (And here's a version of the joke that I think inspired the song.) Both KnowYourMeme and Dictionary.com have entries about it, and here's a positive critical review from earlier this year in Hillsdale College’s Collegian, written in response to the release of "The Duck Song 4".
museums trying to redress the cumulative historical effects of harm
Reviving Roots: Clyfford Still Museum and the Colville Confederated Tribes Partner for the Future Building partnerships with groups historically excluded from museum spaces is often problematic because of institutionalized power structures, traditions of harm, and systemic barriers. So how can museums—historically extractive by design—shift their practices to empower these groups through restorative action? That’s the question that has guided the Clyfford Still Museum (CSM) in Denver as it has worked alongside representatives from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington State to bridge regional and cultural divides, using the Museum’s collections as the starting point to build community, foster authentic connections, and open reciprocal pathways for communication. [more inside]
Phil Donahue, Pioneering Talk Show Host, Dies at 88
Phil Donahue, Pioneering Talk Show Host, Dies at 88 Phil Donahue, Pioneering Talk Show Host, Dies at 88
Kasia Niewiadoma wins the Tour de France Femmes in a nail-biter
With the narrowest margin of victory ever in the Tour de France (men's or women's)—four seconds—Kasia Niewiadoma, who has finished in third twice before—edged out Demi Vollering for the win. [more inside]
Katsu Curry Ouroboros
The Katsuification of Britain Tim Anderson writes for Vittles Magazine about the phenomenon of katsuification—the process under which everything in Britain has become katsu curry—and how this can be explained by the cyclical history of the dish.
Dressing your home for comfort and style
The Material: How can the use of textiles support sustainable coolth and warmth throughout the year?
Traditional Polish house clothes in The Clothed Home by Aleksandra Kędziorek from E-Flux After Comfort. [more inside]
“We started this team because we were heartbroken"
Perhaps the most important work, however, is endearing yourself to the community you want to uplift. In a market like Oakland in 2024, this is especially critical. You have to convince customers you’re not carpetbaggers, that your team isn’t some kind of grift. Paul and Bryan took to the work with zeal. from How to Start a Professional Sports Team, Win Games, and Save the Town [The Ringer] [more inside]
The Sixth Sense of the MeFite ... and it's your Free Thread
Have you ever had an inexplicable incident or encounter? Seemed to read someone's mind? Moved items remotely? Experienced Second Sight? Seen, or felt, a ghost or other unexplained presence? Predicted or foretold a very unlikely, but ultimately correct, event? Something else happened to you which was much more than a coincidence? ... Or write about whatever is on your mind, in your heart, on your plate or in your journal, because this is your weekly free thread. [lastliest]
August 18
“A New Century Dawns! McKinley Ushers in Bold New ‘Coal Age’.
The Onion has put the entirety of its classic book Our Dumb Century online as part of its website redesign. For the unfamiliar, Our Dumb Century was a collection of fake Onion front pages from the 20th Century, with headlines such as “World’s Largest Metaphor Hits Iceberg”, “Feds Gun Down Nixon Outside Arizona Motel”, “Drugs Win Drug War”, and, of course, “WA- (headline continued on page 2)”.
"This song is one of the few hit singles in the key of M"
Conservation detection dog Oakley having a ball patrolling Lake BG
Conservation detection dog Oakley having a ball patrolling Lake Burley Griffin for invasive weed. Oakley, the six-year-old border collie, is a conservation detection dog who sniffs out noxious alligator weed in Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin.
Why We Don't Have Good Civil War Movies (Or Art)
In both social media and his column (archive link), New York Times columnist and pundit Jamelle Bouie discusses the lack of Civil War movies that honestly grapple with the conflict and slavery as its driving force, and how the Lost Cause movement is to blame. [more inside]
There is a gendered side for buttons on clothing
A transgender woman examines “the trans episode” of the Nikolodeon live action show Danger Force. [more inside]
“Rachael Gunn to the dance floor please!”
This was supposed to be a competition where precision, rhythm and cultural resonance are key. Gunn’s claim to creativity rings hollow because it was a desperate attempt to reframe her performance, to shift the narrative from cringe-worthy failure to uniqueness. In doing so, she not only disrespected breakdancing, but revealed her disconnect from the very culture she was trying—and failing—to represent. from The Privilege To Fail: How Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn’s Olympic Routine Made Breakdancing A Global Joke [more inside]
"one half of the resident power couple"
She’s the Oldest Common Loon in the World. She Just Had Her 42nd Chick. A bit more history about her and her previous longtime mate from Audubon.
"I know where it ends."
"In the heart of the country, Great Plains farmers and ranchers produce a quarter of all U.S. crops and 40 percent of our beef. But they rely on a resource that has been slowly drying up, water."
'Depletion of major groundwater source threatens Great Plains farming' Jun 24, 2024. (PBS video/audio.) [more inside]
“Pourquoi, Jef?” “On m’a payé pour ca.”
"The whole world is watching."
Encounters with the Maverick Archaeologist of the Americas
Hakai Magazine: Then in 1976, a 27-year-old American anthropological archaeologist named Tom Dillehay uncovered the campsite, now called Monte Verde, and found that the small group had made it nearly to the bottom of South America 14,500 years ago. This was 1,500 years too early: established archaeologists thought people didn’t even arrive in North America, up in Alaska, until around 13,000 years ago. The discrepancy seriously undermined the leading theory, and moreover came from a young Dillehay who hadn’t yet finished his doctorate. What followed was decades of academic warfare, sometimes nasty, which made Dillehay famous and in which he turned out to be right.
Substitution isn’t always a bad thing
Run-of-the-mill drunk in a dive bar. I was one once. I’d wake up determined to have just two or three drinks, then have many, many more than two or three. As with playing Scrabble, doing otherwise felt impossible. In Alcoholics Anonymous, we’re told that it’s common to substitute one addiction for another. Surely, I tell myself, this new unmanageability is preferable to the old one. It’s possible I’m right. It’s also possible I’m wrong. from Scrabble, Anonymous by Brad Phillips [The Paris Review; ungated] [more inside]
August 17
Seeing the incredibly rare orange-bellied parrot
Seeing the incredibly rare orange-bellied parrot. Nature journalist Dr Ann Jones and BirdLife's Sean Dooley find one of Australia's rarest bids on the edge of Melbourne - the orange-bellied parrot.
This is a 7 minute video from the Australian documentary series, The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds.
Almost stealing a Gutenberg Bible wasn’t even his greatest trick
Dr Infinity could blow his own bugle, kiss his clarinet, and honk his own horn. In short, he could blow himself. Who was Dr Infinity? Where did he come from, and where did he go? What kind of person would do this? And why? … He took this self fellatio very seriously, like a lifestyle choice. He had a whole theory about infinity and recycling the life force, and how if men did this, it would make them better people. from Who was Dr Infinity? The Curious Story of Adult Film’s First Autofellator [The Rialto Report; NSFW] [ETA: Content Warning, child sexual abuse]
Ǔnáùlǔtu̐
Diving Into New York’s Murky Green Waters
NYTimes: It’s hard to see through the water, and too easy to find trash, but divers are finding joy in exploring New York. Since 1971, the New York City-based scuba diving club Big Apple Divers, has been plunging into the coastal waters, uncovering shipwrecks and an array of aquatic creatures. (archive)
Can you name the countries of the world?
You have 15 minutes to do it. Spelling counts. Capitalization not necessary. Fast typing helps. Go.
If Bill Gates spent $1 million every day
According to Forbes, his current net worth is $130 billion. If Bill Gates spent $1 million every day, it would take him over 355 years to spend his fortune.
Noisy miners: when good birds go bad
Noisy miners: when good birds go bad. Noisy miners (Manorina melanocephala) are a type of honeyeater that will do anything to protect their patch. Noisy miners will harass or kill smaller birds. But by choosing the right plants, we can help them and other birds to co-exist in Australian cities. This is an 5 minute video from the Australian documentary series, The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds by nature journalist Dr Ann Jones. [more inside]
Chez Costco
A Warehouse Store Promises Housing for South LA, in Bulk - "A five-acre lot in South Los Angeles has been approved for a future Costco location with 800 residential units over the store, 184 of which will be set aside for low-income tenants. The Baldwin Village/Crenshaw-area project is slated to include studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, along with a basketball court, rooftop pool and community gardens."[*]
Whether or not the Devil is real, his effects in the world are
“The figure of Faust is—after Christ, Mary, and the Devil—the single most popular character in the history of Western Christian culture,” writes Jeffrey Burton Russell in his classic Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World. And of those characters, Faust is the most fully human to us, in his arrogance and his failure, his negotiations and his capitulations, in the whole litany of abuse which the cankered soul is capable of inflicting upon itself. Russell’s contention is far from hyperbole, and amending the word “character” to “narrative,” I’d say that there are few archetypal scripts in our culture as essential as the legend of a man selling his soul to the Devil. from A Deal With the Devil: What the Age-Old Faustian Bargain Reveals About the Modern World [more inside]
August 16
The opening-rubbish-bins arms race between cockatoos and humans
The opening-rubbish-bins arms race between cockatoos and humans. 5 minute video from the Australian documentary series, The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds.
The Mana of Digging a Grave
Liam Rātana writes a beautiful piece about The mana of digging a grave. Some useful Māori words referenced in the article, although you can work out most of it from the surrounding context - mana, tangi, marae, Tāmaki Makaurau, nehu, whānau, kāuta, urupā, punga, karanga, karakia, kai.
Gena Rowlands, star of A Woman Under the Influence, dies at 94
Gena Rowlands, whose seminal and fearless performance in A Woman Under the Influence inspired a generation of actors and who starred in many films directed by her husband, John Cassavetes, as well as in the romance The Notebook, died Wednesday at her home in Indian Wells, California. She was 94. [more inside]
This is how I win.
"Audiences are still being produced and sold. That dynamic hasn’t changed. What’s changed is who’s doing the buying: not just advertisers anymore but, increasingly, gambling companies. This isn’t a small distinction. Advertisers want your time and attention, in return for which you get a TV show or a magazine article; if you decide down the line to buy that Ford F-150 on offer, so much the better, but the sale itself is the secondary goal. Casinos want something else. The sale is the only goal." [more inside]
A Major Survey of Black Collage Art Proves That Print Isn’t Dead
Review of "Multiplicity: Blackness in American Collage" Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.by Alex Greenberger at ARTNews: "Artists like Williams have not ignored violence both past and present. They have instead highlighted how print media is imbricated in the history of anti-Black racism, then found ways of exposing that exploitation without reiterating it."
You've Got to Hide Your Myopia Away
John Lennon was known for his iconic "granny glasses", which he wore in the later years of his career with the Beatles and into his solo years. The Journal of the College of Optometrists present a historical perspective examining Lennon's prior relationship with contact lenses during the "Beatlemania" phase of his musical career...and the one unexpected thing that made his lenses fall out less than usual. (Spoiler: it was cannabis)
Hellman's Is Other People
The brand describes this condiment collaboration as having notes of lemon, coffee, musk, vanilla, and of course "mayonnaise accord." These ingredients are sandwiched together in a way that is surprisingly pleasant. Though I do not wear cologne myself, this collaboration smells like something you could wrap up in a nice bow and gift to a regular cologne wearer. What's most surprising is that it does not give off an egg smell. Typically, stronger, thicker mayonnaise is made with lots of egg yolks, but this scent is heavier on the musk than the mayo. from Hellmann's Mayo Cologne Is Enjoyable For All The Wrong Reasons [more inside]
There’s a significant intimidation factor
The US wants to use facial recognition to identify migrant children as they age. "The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is looking into ways it might use facial recognition technology to track the identities of migrant children, “down to the infant,” as they age, according to John Boyd, assistant director of the department’s Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM), where a key part of his role is to research and develop future biometric identity services for the government."
Kamalanomics
Who knows the reason? We have to ask the dolphins.
In Wakasa Bay, 200 miles west of Tokyo and 150 miles north of Taiji Bay, dolphins have attacked at least 47 people since 2022. Some marine experts think it might just be a single lonely and possibly horny cetacean.
"Overwhelmingly positive."
"Since the cancellation, MIT Libraries estimates annual savings at more than 80% of its original spend. This move saves MIT approximately $2 million each year, and the Libraries provide alternative means of access that fulfills most article requests in minutes." [more inside]
Catching Australia's biggest bird of prey to put a bird-band on its leg
Catching Australia's biggest bird of prey to put a bird-band on its leg.
The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia's largest bird of prey - and scariest if you ask ibis.
Featuring nature journalist Dr Ann Jones and a local wedge-tailed eagle expert.
(7 minute video from a longer four-episode nature documentary series about Australian birds, The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds.)
Peter Marshall, game-show host of ‘Hollywood Squares,’ dies at 98
Peter Marshall, game-show host of ‘Hollywood Squares,’ dies at 98 Peter Marshall, a versatile singer, actor and comedian who was best known as the host of the long-running celebrity game show “Hollywood Squares,” died Aug. 15 at his home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 98.
“We didn’t want to be associated with that hateful stuff.”
“I tried to give them $20,000 for nothing!” [Tim] Pool said on his show, claiming to be perplexed by the skaters’ ingratitude. But Pool has also described the purchase as a win for the right, saying it was part of “real-world efforts to win a culture war.” Jeremy Hambly, a popular YouTuber associated with Pool who goes by the name “The Quartering,” said in a video that Pool’s decision to buy the land was like “a mini ‘Elon buying Twitter’ scenario.” from The skate park was thriving. Then a right-wing YouTuber bought it. [Washington Post; ungated]
August 15
Content note: “comedy”
Exceptionally rare octopus squid dissected by researchers at university
Exceptionally rare octopus squid dissected by researchers at SA university. School-age, university students and keen members of the public have gathered to observe a rare public dissection of a 140kg Dana octopus squid (Taningia danae) found off South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.
Because We The People Means All The People
In preparation for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the planners are looking to make the event accessible for delegates - including installing ramps to allow wheelchair users to sit with their delegations on the floor for the first time. [more inside]
Your workout may not work for you
Is Your Workout Not Working? Maybe You’re a Non-Responder “nonresponders to one form of exercise can probably switch to another exercise regimen to which their body will respond. And a simple test you can do at home will help you determine how well your workout is working for you.“ (Reynolds, NYT, 2017). [more inside]
Vibes are this press corps’ forte, not fact and substance.
Space and Time
A photographer captures the Perseid metor shower over Stonehenge. Every time you think that the universe has nothing left to show you, it rains wonder.
Give up dating or just date a bot
The Atlantic: The People Who Quit Dating. Being single can be hard—but the search for love may be harder.
They still want a relationship—and they wouldn’t refuse if one unfolded naturally—but they’ve cycled between excitement and disappointment too many times to keep trying. Quitting dating means more than just deleting the apps, or no longer asking out acquaintances or friendly strangers. It means looking into Lewis’s crystal ball and imagining that it shows them that they’ll never find the relationship they’ve always wanted.[more inside]
teachers who need to rest and recover
Two short fantasy stories about teaching and burnout. "This Mentor Lives" by J.R. Dawson & John Wiswell, published July 2024 in Haven Speculative: "We're not sure how your lungs are still working. You can't run around in this state. You're not 900 anymore." (Wiswell previously.) "By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars" by Premee Mohamed, published June 2024 in Strange Horizons: "She didn’t want another apprentice. She wanted peace and quiet." (Mohamed previously.)
I've got bad news if you're 43 or 59 and reading this post...
Scientists find humans age dramatically in two bursts – at 44, then 60 - suggesting ageing is not a slow and steady process, which could explain spikes in health issues at certain ages. From Nature Aging: Nonlinear dynamics of multi-omics profiles during human aging.
Disgraceful self indulgence
Nick Cave speaks. On loss, on love for his wife, on collaborating with Kylie Minogue. On the beauty and privilege of answering questions on the Red Hand Files.
On becoming a grandfather. On growing as a musician, and on realising what actually matters. Previously. Previouslier. Previousliest.
And in the blessed name of Elvis, well, I just let it blast
like two souls in one
Cynics may say José and Betty were never in love, just using each other for beauty or status. Perhaps their lifelong performance of fame was a golden cage, a distraction from a toxic dynamic. But it also seemed possible that the artifice was the passion. All romance starts with a dose of delusion: We fall in love with the idea of someone until, over time, our fantasy of the other person either buckles under the strain of reality or carries on forever, eclipsing whatever reality may have once existed. from The Twisted True Love Story of Lady Betty Grafstein and José Castelo Branco [Vanity Fair; ungated] [more inside]
August 14
Come On Back to Yesterday's Promise
The promise will be kept. Two entire eras after introducing it, gorgeously retro puppet show The Creatures of Yes (previyesyes) will return this fall to finally resolve the storyline from the epic Splintered Mind saga in its first feature-length movie, whose trailer dropped less than two weeks ago. Will Tom finally... COME ON BACK? [more inside]
When Vultures Nearly Disappeared in India, Half a Million People Died
When Vultures Nearly Disappeared in India, Half a Million People Died, Too, Study Finds.
By being nature’s clean-up crew, the often maligned birds help prevent the spread of diseases, according to a new study [Smithsonian magazine].
Two Cool Interactive Toys And Their Distant Connection
Sokoblox is a fascinating and challenging Pico-8 [previously] game combining classic block puzzles Sokoban and Bloxorz [previously]. Xenpaper is a text-based, in-browser microtonal sequencer. It's difficult to write music with, but it's a surprisingly convenient way to actually listen to the difference between, say, a standard tuned dominant 7th chord and the just-intoned equivalent characteristic of barbershop music. [more inside]
Many hands make light work.
Harris campaign reports record-breaking volunteer surge in key swing states. Harris' campaign is transforming big crowds into volunteers on the ground in key swing states. Surge of volunteers makes Harris team bullish on Florida, where GOP still has tight grip. There's a lot of work to do. It can feel good to join in, even if you only have a little bit of time or energy or money to bring to the party. [more inside]
The current state of the Wisconsin battleground (badgerground? 🦡)
Wisconsin's primary election on Tuesday, August 13th was the first held under the new legislative maps that provide fairer competition where 'the party that wins the most votes will win the most seats.' While the nature of primary elections makes it difficult to assess the impact this will have on a general election, there may be clues to what Wisconsin voters are looking for come November. [more inside]
Famous Amos Has Crumbled His Last Cookie (1936-2024)
Wally Amos, best known to most Americans for his company Famous Amos Cookies (now owned by Ferrero) passed away on August 13th at home in Hawaii at the age of 88 [more inside]
"I would like to make one thing clear: I never explain anything."
Disney wants wrongful-death suit thrown out because widower bought an Epcot ticket and had Disney+ (CNN, BBC, NPR) Court documents show that the company is trying to get the $50,000 lawsuit tossed because the plaintiff, Jeffrey Piccolo, signed up for a one-month trial of the streaming service Disney+ in 2019, which requires trial users to arbitrate all disputes with the company. Company lawyers also claim that because Piccolo used the Walt Disney Parks’ website to buy Epcot Center tickets, Disney is shielded from a lawsuit from the estate of Piccolo’s deceased wife, Kanokporn Tangsuan, who died of a reaction to severe food allergies.
Delivery will take more than 30 minutes
This will inevitably get flagged as pizza blue, but now you can swap out the purple cover on your Playdate handheld for one that looks like a pizza box. [more inside]
No Bronze for You!
American gymnast Jordan Chiles was awarded the bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She was then ordered to return it.
Deep dive from Vox. [more inside]
Early mammal could help answer one of biology’s biggest question
Early mammal could help answer one of biology’s biggest question, say experts. Krusatodon kirtlingtonensis, which lived 166 million years ago, "a piece of the puzzle" explaining mammals’ success.
Man Sues Museum of Ice Cream Over ‘Unfit and Unsafe’ Sprinkle Pool
A man who claims to have fractured his ankle by jumping into the sprinkle pool at the New York City location of the Museum of Ice Cream has filed a lawsuit contending that the museum was “reckless, careless and negligent” in its operation of the facility. [more inside]
Gi-ga-miinigoz Mamaandaawiziwin*
The world premiere of the Ojibwe-language version of Star Wars: A New Hope had its premiere this past weekend in Winnipeg! [more inside]
I grew up here. And I temporarily live here. Unfortunately.
Miyazaki was right
Somewhere That's Wet*
Matt Baume has a new documentary about the life and career of Howard Ashman -- the Off (Off) Broadway writer/director who brought us Little Shop of Horrors and later, Disney's Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. [more inside]
Internet Textuality: Toward Interactive Multilinear Narrative
The year is 1996. MetaFilter does not yet exist. Social media are tapes, disks, books, and other objects shared between friends. The Web is a new, exciting place for exploring new kinds of texts. As such, it's a perfect time to dig into Borges, Calvino, Cortázar, and kin, along with state-of-the-art graphics, in order to help think about the theory and future of multilinear narrative. [more inside]
well
What they found was that the readings collected by Insight are best explained by the presence under the surface of the Red Planet of a deep layer of fractured igneous rock saturated with liquid water [new atlas; uc berkeley]
feeding your family comes first
"If any -ology helps us understand these people, it’s sociology: assembly-line slaughter makes the underclasses deranged; technology makes them irrelevant; unemployment makes them hungry. Scarcity underlies almost everything the characters do, whether they’re killers or not—like that other stagflation classic, 'Mad Max,' this is a story about precious fuel and the lengths some people will go to get it." Jackson Arn, on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in The New Yorker.
impractical, poorly thought out, and generally an embarrassment
I think it is actually somewhat generous to call the Loop an underground system, as most maneuvers and operations occur at surface level. It is perhaps best thought of as a taxi system that makes use of underground connectors to bypass traffic. Future expansion plans involve significantly more tunnel length and more underground stations, which will probably cause the system overall to feel more like a below-surface transit system and less like an odd fleet of hotel courtesy cars. from a pedantic review of the las vegas loop [computers are bad] [more inside]
August 13
Scientists celebrate first Maugean skate hatchling born in captivity
Scientists celebrate first Maugean skate hatchling born from a captive-laid egg. Scientists working to conserve the endangered Maugean skate are celebrating the first skate to hatch from an egg laid in captivity.
How conservators got just the right polish on an Alamo cannon
Although artifacts do need upkeep from time to time, some might look strange with a pristine exterior. Most people don’t expect a bronze cannon used at the Battle of the Alamo to be shiny, for example...
It's a Good Start
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and Independent Publishers Group (IPG) have announced a groundbreaking agreement that will allow libraries to purchase ebooks under the aegis of the IPG instead of renting them at eye-watering prices. [more inside]
Thousands of Taylor Swift Fans Flood Museums In Vienna
Thousands of Taylor Swift fans flooded museums in Vienna over the weekend after multiple institutions waived entry fees after three of the singer’s concerts were cancelled due to security threats.(...)The Albertina fully embraced the moment, waiving its €19.90 regular entrance fee (€15.90 for visitors under 26 years) for more than 20,000 Swifties between Thursday, August 8 and Sunday, August 11. “On a normal and regular weekend, we would have, I would say 2,000 a day,” spokesperson Nina Eisterer told ARTnews, noting that these types of visitor numbers are usually for blockbuster exhibitions like the one for Claude Monet in 2018.
new short stories by Kelly Robson and Marissa Lingen
Two short fantasy stories about journeys, meant to provide care, that go in unexpected directions. "Median" by Kelly Robson (published March 2024 in Reactor (formerly Tor.com)): a horror story in which "a professional caregiver’s commute takes an unsettling detour when car trouble forces her to pull over on the highway, where she begins receiving distressing phone calls from strangers…" (Via Jason Sanford who said it "left me completely unsettled.") And "A Pilgrimage to the God of High Places" by Marissa Lingen (published May 2024 in Beneath Ceaseless Skies): "When I had taken leave from the Archives to go on this pilgrimage, no one had expected that a pilgrimage to the god of high places would cure me. Friends expressed shock that I would even try."
"You're the greatest cutter."
United Auto Workers files federal labor charges against Trump, Musk (WaPo) After Trump said, in an interview with Musk, “You walk in, you say, ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike. I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, and you say, ‘That’s okay. You’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.’” In a statement, UAW president Shawn Fain said “When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean. Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It’s disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns.” [more inside]
Why do you think they call them counties?
Keep track of all the counties you've visited in the USA, Canada, and more: "The rules are simple: you visit a county, then you count it. To visit a county, just cross the plane of the county line." Similar to USA County Highpointing's site (MeFi post), mob-rule.com's design still feels like when it was created: way back in the 00s. Generates pretty maps (like heat maps for all users for the US and for Canada). Useful new features added in 2021 include HTTPS! Take a randomized county quiz!
Are Universities Failing the Accommodations Test?
As instructors struggle to meet the complex needs of students, schools are leaving both to fend for themselves. (slTheWalrus)
The splendid social life of Australia’s bluest bird
"Like watching a soap opera": The splendid social life of Australia’s bluest bird. They may seem like just a beautiful blue bird, but under the surface the social dynamics of the splendid fairy-wren is anything but simple.
[tram pun]
tramstertram A minimalist Amsterdam-inspired town builder with trams.
The gloom of the Anglosphere
So youth in English-speaking Canada are becoming sadder faster than those in French-speaking Canada, and measures of teen suicidality are rising in the Anglosphere but less so in similar less-English-speaking countries. What’s the deal with Anglosphere despair? from America’s Top Export May Be Anxiety [The Atlantic; ungated] [CW: suicide, depression]
August 12
What regressive warmed-over hell is this?
Pop has moved on. Someone needs to tell Katy Perry. Katy Perry's latest two singles have been utter flops, falling off the radar within days. We all loved Hot n Cold but it ain't 2008 no more and pop has drastically moved on. [more inside]
Ghosts are huge in New England
This note on the fridge is to say
South Australian app helps people find conversation-friendly restaurants
South Australian app helps people find conversation-friendly restaurants. Have you ever struggled to hear a conversation over the din of a lively restaurant? For people with auditory processing issues or hearing loss, socialising in loud restaurants creates significant challenges — but an Adelaide audiologist hopes her app will help match people with acoustically-friendly venues.
In Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine invades you
Day 900 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: President Zelenskyy confirms Ukrainian incursion on Russian territory. Over the last week, a series of audacious raids has caught the Russian military flatfooted, caputring over 1000 square kilometers, occupying 28 settlements, and forcing the evacuation of over 100,000 Russian citizens from Kursk and Belgorod oblasts. As the operation continues to expand in scope, Ukrainian leadership aims to use the surprise gains as a potent bargaining chip for changing the trajectory of the war, forcing a peace settlement -- and potentially securing the return of occupied lands in the east. [more inside]
T.D. Lee dies, theorized physics doesn't work in a mirror
Tsung-Dao Lee (November 24, 1926 to August 4, 2024) shared his Nobel with Chen Ning Yang. Many say the experimentalist Chien-Shiung Wu who validated Lee and Yang's hypothesis should have also shared the prize. That the laws of physics don't work in a mirror image universe (parity violation) came as a big surprise.
...Nobel-prizewinning physicist Isidor Rabi, said at a press conference: “A rather complete theoretical structure has been shattered at the base and we are not sure how the pieces will be put together.”
time travel, soup, and a badly-kept secret
"Since when did Angelique Lancaster even look at this table, much less schlep over and sit at it?" A wish-fulfillment story fragment, inspired by the prompt "A loving, married couple wake up one day to find that they have returned to their high school days, when they were the most popular student and the class geek." Do mind the content notes at the start.
A Fitting Send Off for a Beautiful, Historic Plane
After years of trying to find a contract or buyer, Coulson Aviation has donated one of their last-of-a-kind Martin JRM Mars WW2 seaplane-turned-waterbombers to the BC Aviation museum. This weekend, the plane made it's last flight from Port Alberni to Victoria, escorted by the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds team. I don't have any personal connection to this event, but I love aircraft and seeing this big bird fly in formation brought me to tears in my office this morning.
(Coulson's other Mars aircraft, Phillipine Mars, will make its last flight to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson later this year.)
How can a brand join the conversation?
The head of influencer marketing at Edelman is bullish on AI-driven "credit scores" for content creators. "Their nightmare, he said, was hiring an influencer and then hearing: 'Hey, this person said something 10 years ago and we’re canceling them and the brand has no idea.'"
How this regional airport dodged CrowdStrike's global blue screen
How this regional airport dodged CrowdStrike's global blue screen of death.
While the world scrambled to find answers, reconnect to servers and calm delayed travellers during a global outage, Port Hedland International Airport kept on ticking. Its secret was its IT diversity.
Only Conexo
If you enjoy putting things into categories, you might enjoy Conexo, a free daily browser puzzle based on one of the rounds from Only Connect [wiki]. Presented with 16 words or phrases, put four things each into four categories - that's it!
$0.12 for a loaf of bread?!?
"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans spent a whopping 42.5% of their household budgets on food in 1901, nearly four times what we spend now. In real numbers, that means the equivalent of a household with the current median income of almost $75,000/yr spending $2,610 a month on food. And that was the reality for a long time—even a few decades later in the 1930s, people were still spending more than a third of their income on food compared to our 11% today." How much did groceries cost the year you were born? Check out the Food Timeline. See also: the price of bread. Groceries have, of course, risen in price lately. [more inside]
It is almost 4; I hear the birds.
Chronic insomnia since I was a child. A cyclonic brain that will not rest, that is always ready to run, to keep moving; a gift of epigenetics. On this night, I am kept awake by the emotionally violent work of long-term eldercare for a mentally ill mother, by the news of babies and more babies dying thousands of miles away, by the cortisol-drenched shame of relapse. An earworm, and I begin to hum that old Cat Stevens line where do the children play. from Forever Less of Beauty by Elissa Altman
Boxing The Ring
A solution to an ancient geometry problem — how to slice up a circle (into about 10200 pieces) and rearrange it into a square.
I see a ship in the harbour ... and it's your free thread
The sense of Sight. A landscape, a tree, a city vista, the Aurora Borealis, a movie scene, flowers, a moment captured in a photo? What is something you've seen that has stuck in your mind? Or what's your everyday view - the office, bedroom, kitchen, basement, perhaps the room you are in at this exact moment - what does it look like? ... Or write about whatever is on your mind, in your heart, on your plate or in your journal, because this is your weekly free thread. [latelyist][post title]
August 11
Wrestling in Paris (in 2017)
Wrestling in Paris (in 2017) Written in 2018, an overthinking of the freestyle wrestling championships in Paris, where class and partisan musings give way to riveting descriptions of a sport few in America follow, but maintains broad global appeal.
Your Voice Is a Garden
From The Marginalian, a lovely obscure story of sound and art - Margaret Watts Hughes’s Wondrous Victorian Sound Visualizations
Urban animals need darkness at night
Urban animals need darkness at night. Here's how three species handle artificial light.
Neighbourhood lights can disrupt the lives of animals that are active during the day or night, but there are steps you can take to help them out.
The Hugo Awards for 2024 and Worldcon site selection for 2026
2024's Hugo Award winners have been announced. Complete voting statistics and a report from the Hugo administrators are available as PDFs. The video of the award ceremony is currently online without a live feed, so the ceremony begins at around -01:52:00 and a short presentation by John Scalzi begins at -01:48:00. Also this weekend, Los Angeles was selected to be the site of Worldcon in 2026. Meanwhile, Glasgow 2024's programme guide is currently still online, showing some kinds of things that happen at Worldcon, while Seattle 2025 continues gathering panel suggestions.
Bhutan’s Kinzang Lhamo fulfills promise of finishing women's marathon
Bhutan’s Kinzang Lhamo, who was her nation's flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony, filled her promise to finish an Olympic marathon. She was the final finisher, in 80th place, with a time of 3 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. Hundreds of fans walked, biked and ran beside her in the final few kilometers in support of her effort. Thousands of fans also remained at the finish line to cheer her completion of the 42+ kilometer event. [more inside]
A new approach to the Voynich Manuscript
Everyone's favorite mystery text, the Voynich Manuscript, is finally getting careful attention from leading medievalists [more inside]
Trump's intention to invade Mexico
Military attack on drug dealers, close the border, deport millions of people. What could possibly go wrong? Some details about what could go wrong as result of interlocking bad policy. Mexico is a major trading partner these days.
cheerful story of a local business
NINA mortgage and a decade of work turn into an actual place and business. There’s an accordion. It’s in Arkansas. It also sounds like what I would like Hallmark romcom movies to be.
Flying Colors Comics, Free Comic Book Day, and the Comic Book Market
"And it wasn't until we had a meeting with representatives from the Comics Buyer's Guide that we had to decide whether we were going to do a free comic book day at all. Maggie Thompson was there, John Jackson Miller – the editor – was there, executives from Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse were all there. The team from Diamond Comics was there. And it was then-Image publisher Jim Valentino who suggested we put Free Comic Book Day on the weekend when the spotlight on comics content would be brightest because of the Spider-Man movie." A fascinating interview in The Comics Journal about the history of modern comics, the origin story of Free Comic Book Day, the changing of demographics of comics readers (2021; 2017; 2024), indie comics, and whole lot more, including the tale of a (comic book store's) death averted.
Yo Microsoft Raps
"Welcome! To the MS-DOS 5.0 upgrade training!" (5 minutes; warning: old software ad, white guy rap, severe cringe) [more inside]
“I kept wondering, ‘Who is this guy?’”
Marset’s odyssey reads like a transnational caper, bordering on the absurd. But it is a startling window into the level of impunity at the nexus of Latin American public life and the lower rungs of professional soccer, enabling drug traffickers to wield enormous influence in both worlds. Years after a global manhunt for him began, Marset remains at large. from A double life: The cocaine kingpin who hid as a professional soccer player: Part I / Part II [Washington Post; ungated Part I / Part II]
Amerrisque
The Naming of America - "To question the origin of America's name is to question the nature of not only our history lessons but our very identity as Americans." [Naming of the Americas, Origin of the name America (via 47:55 ;)]
Answers found in prehistoric cold case at 8-million-year-old fossil bed
Answers found in prehistoric cold case at 8-million-year-old fossil bed. Palaeontologists working near Alice Springs uncover for the first time a set of articulated bones and partial skeleton of Ilbandornis woodburnei, a massive bird that once roamed an evolving continent 8 million years ago.
August 10
"Without light in the darkness you cannot make movies."
'My slogan is very simple: no education, just liberation!’ – Béla Tarr on how film can fight the political right in Hungary.'
Two Films by Béla Tarr. 'Werckmeister Harmonies' (2000)
and 'The Turin Horse' (2011). [more inside]
Breaking barriers
Manizha Talash (previously) of the Refugee Olympic Team was disqualified in the first round of the Breaking competition for displaying a cape emblazoned with "FREE AFGHAN WOMEN" in the middle of her head-to-head with B-girl India.
"A new kind of slavery."
Canada’s $100-billion food-service industry, struggling with labour shortages, is leaning on a vulnerable workforce in record numbers. (slStar, but is an archive.ph link; OG link if you want it) [more inside]
Rival monkey gangs terrorise Thai city, mugging & assaulting schoolkids
Rival monkey gangs terrorise Thai city, mugging and assaulting schoolkids and tourists. Thousands of long-tail macaques are following increasingly aggressive ringleaders into attacks on tourists and schoolkids, and now they're wising up to the "Anti-Monkey Unit's" tactics, leaving the town no choice but to try and round them up before they storm another police station.
Storrowed
Massive wind turbine blade hits bridge, gets knocked off truck on Route 1 in Maine. Workers in orange and yellow safety vests admire the behemoth while making plans to get this over-over-over-sized load moving again.
each one of us is a brain and an athlete, etc.
This is the closing weekend of the Olympics, and Sally Jenkins is celebrating some of Team USA's athletic geeks in The Washington Post: So many of us, normal people, stroll through the world hoping to project nonchalance because we suppose it means effortlessness — when, really, it’s a kind of abdication. That way, we never really have to lose at anything. [more inside]
Cast members are categorized by "era" of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live: The Game has received little attention on BoardGameGeek, and but little attention on its 2010 release. If games aren't your thing, you can collect the SNL action figures. Perhaps fine art is more your thing? Last but not least, for a view of the panoply of SNL-iana, you can visit a famed online purveyor of resold corporate schlock. [more inside]
An extravagant waste of time
From the beginning, intarsia has served as a projection of imperial singularity and superiority. According to Maurice Sven Dimand, the first specialized curator of Near Eastern art at the Metropolitan Museum, the technique arrived in the cathedrals of Europe via Andalusia and Sicily from the mosques and minarets of North Africa, where, due to the prohibition on graven images, it was useful in effecting complex calligraphic patterns and tessellations. More than mere ornamentation, the intricate tiling served as a unifying design element, as much a part of the architecture as a pillar or qubba (dome). One can still feel transported before lonely door panels and orphaned minbars (pulpits), as one marvels at the way these features summon the ineffable through sacred geometry from the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia (ca. 836) to the Alhambra in Spain. from Exquisite Rot [Public Domain Review]
August 9
Workers carry in material by hand for manual glow-worm tunnel upgrade
Workers carry in 350 tonnes of material by hand for manual glow-worm tunnel upgrade. Tradies upgrading a glow-worm tunnel in New South Wales had to get creative to ensure the worms remained safe, but were treated to a daily light show as they worked.
"we decided on the wingnut because we thought it represented us"
Berkeley, CA now has a Wingnut Museum. "The wingnut was invented in the first half of the 19th century and quickly became an indispensable piece of hardware. It lets users fasten bolts by hand, without tools, using little wings jutting out from the nut.
Over time the term became slang, applied pejoratively to mentally unsound people, to political extremists, to freaks, eccentrics and weirdos. But in the Bay Area especially, it’s come to take on a more positive connotation, describing a certain type of creative tinkerer with a DIY, outsider ethos.
The wingnut, in all its many guises, is being celebrated at the Wingnut Museum, which opened in July at Grand Opening, the art salon in Berkeley’s Gilman District that is also home to the Illusion Room. " [more inside]
The Travellers' Tour Through the United States
Matthew Wynn Sivils (The Conversation, 05/08/2024), "What America's first board game can teach us about the aspirations of a young nation": "'The Travellers' Tour' first appeared in 1822, making it the earliest known board game printed in the U.S. But for almost a century another game held that honor ... 'The Mansion of Happiness,' an English game first produced in the U.S. in 1843 ... Announcing itself as a 'pleasing and instructive pastime,' 'The Travellers' Tour' consists of a hand-colored map of the then-24 states and a numbered list of 139 towns and cities." Scan available at the LOC. [more inside]
Well, it was 2016 all over again today.
Lawrence O'Donnell delivers a scathing rebuke of the media's failure to hold Trump accountable for his lies and non-answers given throughout his recent hour-long press conference at Mar-A-Lago. [more inside]
Evaluating People-Search Site Removal Services
New Consumer Reports study on getting your address, phone number, etc. removed from sites like Spokeo: "Data Defense: Evaluating People-Search Site Removal Services". "a group of companies offers to remove people’s personal data from people-search sites for fees ranging from $19.99 per year to more than $1,000 per year..." They tested 7 removal services to try to delete participant info from 13 people-search sites. While the study's authors "do not consider the results statistically significant or nationally representative", they found that "As a whole, people-search removal services are largely ineffective." and "Manual opt-outs were more effective than people-search removal services but were also far from perfect." (19-page PDF including Methodology and Limitations sections.)
Avoid the 512 Bit RSA Keys
200 MW of Power (sorry Doc) This article was interesting to me, as it took me back to the days when I finished my math degree with some study of crypto, and their explanation of how the 512 bit key ended up in use.
Also: be extremely wary of the research mentioned in the article, without approval from the company and maybe some legal advice.
Also Also: not quite 1.2 “jigga” watts.
Also: be extremely wary of the research mentioned in the article, without approval from the company and maybe some legal advice.
Also Also: not quite 1.2 “jigga” watts.
Better than the free chocolate muffins
The Olympic Village has free healthcare. The United States, of course, does not:
In the days following her victory, US rugby player Ariana Ramsey made appointments with the Village gynecologist, dentist and ophthalmologist. “Like, what?” she said in a post on TikTok describing her new discovery. The Village also offers cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and, of course, sports medicine—all at no cost to the athletes. Ramsey came to Paris as a rugby player, she is leaving as a universal free healthcare advocate.
Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!
The trailer for director Jason Reitman's "thriller-comedy" about the beginnings of SNL has landed. [more inside]
The Bureau of Nooks and Crannies
A weird, whimsical game is hiding in the bookshelves at Los Angeles Public Library LA Times: "Imagine that your local public library is inhabited by an undiscovered race of tiny people. They’ve hidden themselves in the racks, tucked behind books and magazines, amidst history and fiction, new media and old." [more inside]
poetry in motion
How Lego builds a new Lego set
Each project moving through the Lego Ideas program starts the same way: a Lego designer tries to replicate the original fan creation in the real world to see what works and what doesn’t.
Furiosa is Australia's biggest, most expensive movie ever
Eight months and 3000 people: Furiosa is Australia's biggest, most expensive movie ever.
Director George Miller reveals how the latest Mad Max came to be, and why Anya Talyor-Joy was the right actor to take over from Charlize Theron.
‘I bet Ben did that.’
A former AdVon employee told The Verge that the content that AdVon says is created by humans is nearly identical to the AI-generated content they created while working there. Freelancers who were initially hired as writers were reassigned to roles of editors and tasked with making AI-generated writing sound human. The tool AdVon used — called MEL internally — generated hundreds of words on products using bare-bones prompts like “best televisions,” spitting out links to product pages on Amazon. from Chum King Express [The Verge; ungated]
August 8
A Compassionate Spy
The Boy Who Gave Away The Bomb [ungated] - "Drawing on intelligence sources in Russia and the United States, we had identified [Ted] Hall as an atomic spy, the long-rumored third spy at America's Los Alamos bomb laboratory." [more inside]
Insta-fake
(CW: Suicide) The only thing as fascinating as opulent wealth is its sudden disintegration Candice and Brandon Miller showed the public a world of glittering parties and vacations. The money to sustain it did not exist. [more inside]
"The Homeric poems, especially the Iliad, are full of big emotions."
Emily Wilson has translated the Iliad and Odyssey, and teaches classics at the University of Pennsylvania. Recently, she was interviewed ...by the journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. [more inside]
Tim Walz Would Fix Your Bicycle
With Kamala Harris' Vice President pick Tim Walz rapidly becoming everyone's favorite dad and Mr. Rogers substitute, Jason Cosper's Tim Walz Fixed Your Bicycle -- a rif on Mat Honan's 2008 Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle (yes, you are that old now) -- has collected a singularity's worth of wholesome male role model positivity. [more inside]
Three young boys find a T Rex fossil
Three young boys, the most famous dinosaur in history, and a prehistoric discovery that left them speechless.
Two young brothers and their cousin made the discovery of a lifetime whilst hiking in North Dakota — a T-rex fossil poking out of the ground.
They are the artists
Spiders of Paradise is an upcoming exhibit of large scale portraits of tiny colorful Peacock Spiders (Genus Maratus) by artist Maria Fernanda Cardosa. Here's a short video about the project.
"The only issue was, Eric couldn't swim."
"You probably know the start of this Olympic story, but do you know how it finished?"
Before coming to the Olympics, Equatorial Guinea's Eric Moussambani had never seen a 50m pool. Aaron Smith tells us an incredible story that starts with 'Eric the Eel' answering a call for volunteers, and ends in a way you might not expect.
♫ This morning I answered the door with a boob out ♫
"With a Boob Out" is the new music video from Australian folk music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alana Wilkinson.
[Despite the title and the use of the word "boob" this post is entirely SFW] [more inside]
307 days; Israel's Torture Regime
Israel Accused of Running "Torture Camps" as Video Emerges of Soldiers Raping Palestinian Prisoner - Democracy Now covers the days-old story that's still not quite got any significant coverage in Western media: 'The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has published a major new report documenting how the Israeli prison system has become "a network of torture camps," where physical, psychological and sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners is normalized and routine. The report, titled "Welcome to Hell," collects the testimony of 55 Palestinians who were detained by Israeli authorities since October 7 and later released, almost all without charges. This comes as a group of U.N. experts condemned the widespread torture of Palestinians and as Israel's Channel 12 News aired shocking footage of Israeli soldiers sexually abusing a prisoner at the Sde Teiman army base, where thousands of detainees from Gaza are held. Sarit Michaeli, the international advocacy lead for B'Tselem, says the abuse in Israeli prisons is "systemic, ongoing and state-sanctioned," reflecting the cruelty and thirst for revenge among a growing number of Israelis. "They would like to have a completely open field in terms of what they can do to Palestinians," says Michaeli.' [more inside]
Why Can’t Anyone in My Family Manage to Change the Dang Toilet Paper
NYT: Wirecutter takes on the perennial question "Frankly, some people are just monsters. And those monsters are our loved ones." [more inside]
Was Ozempic Right For Me?
“What is the charge? Eating a meal?! A succulent Chinese meal?”
YouTube: Democracy Manifest. Jack Karlson (may be an alias) has passed away, aged 82. BBC: A man responsible for one of the most viral clips in Australian history has died at the age of 82. The prison escapee and on-again off-again petty criminal ... shot to fame in 2009, after a clip of his dramatic 1991 arrest outside a Chinese restaurant in Brisbane was uploaded to the internet and enthralled the world. TV report. Guardian: "As a final send off, we gave uncle a last taste of red wine through his drip just before it was removed" she said. Metro: Yet despite his viral fame, Karlson was not tech-savvy and shunned the internet, never truly understanding the true impact of his role in popular culture. ‘He is folklore and doesn’t even know it,’ Davis said.
The strange, secretive world of North Korean science fiction
Unusual and often breathtaking, the genre is relatively unknown in the West. Lovely article introducing and situating North Korean science fiction as its own genre
Healing through Heeling
The transformative power of a northern Canadian wrestling tour. Sonya Ballantyne and Stephan Peterson directed The Death Tour, about a Northern Manitoba indie wrestling circuit.
The great cloud built form of the Giant
"The Giant by N. C. Wyeth (1882 – 1945) has hung in the Dining Room of Westtown School since 1923, a memorial from members of the Westtown Class of 1910 to their deceased classmate, William Clothier Engle (1891 – 1916). Commissioned by the class, the painting pays tribute to an artistic young man lost in the prime of his life." A short film was recently released to explore the painting and its significance further. "Headmaster James Walker and his wife picked up the painting at Wyeth’s studio and carried it back to the school in an orchard truck." At the Brandywine Museum of Art.
Should you keep drinking from an increasingly contaminated stream?
Why I Finally Quit Spotify The platform interface has gradually made it harder to find the music I want to listen to. With the latest app updates, I’d had enough. [Kyle Chayka for the New Yorker, ungated] [more inside]
There is something hopeful about writing a review
Criticism is an act of autobiography. The work of making an argument, coming to a judgment, or simply choosing which books or objects to give time and attention to is inevitably, helplessly, an expression of values—and an expression of self. Our tastes tell on us as much as our syntax and tone; that mysterious compound called sensibility is formed by some strange alchemy of innate tendencies, life experiences, and material circumstances. In the pursuit of explicating a text, observing its patterns and structure, how it works, what it means, I also explicate myself—revealing what catches my interest, where my attention lingers. I might do this more, or less, intentionally, but I always do it. from A Reviewer’s Life by Christine Smallwood [The Yale Review]
August 7
Thousands of frog eggs being released into National Park
Only 50 of these tiny frogs are left in the wild, but a drop of thousands of eggs in Kosciuszko National Park may change that. More than 3400 southern corroboree frog eggs have been released into their natural habitat in the NSW Snowy Mountains in the hope of bringing the iconic species back from the brink of extinction.
Couch Gag
The fact that so many people across the political spectrum appeared to believe his post to be true hasn't bolstered his faith in the critical-thinking skills of the electorate, Rick said — though he accepts that blame for the misapprehension starts with him. "In terms of media literacy, and those kinds of things, I guess I was already in the mud rolling around," he said. from The author of the viral joke post about JD Vance having sex with a couch breaks his silence
leftists..."progressives"...we will call them the unhumans.
"[U]nhumans oppose everything that makes up humanity. As they are opposed to humanity itself, they place themselves outside of the category completely....they rob and they kill...They don't believe what they say. They don't care about winning debates. They don't even want equality. They just want an excuse to destroy everything. They want an excuse to destroy you." So begins Unhumans, an Amazon best-seller by Jack Posobiec. Cover blurbs lauding the book are by J.D. Vance, Donald Trump, Jr. and Michael T. Flynn. [more inside]
The Art Forger Had Fooled Thousands. Then He Met Doug.
When a man obsessed with woodblocks began to do business with a man obsessed with medical antiques, their relationship flowered — until it soured. By Christopher Kuo for the NYT. For decades, beginning in the late 1990s, Washington, 62, created thousands of ornate woodblocks and used them to make intricate prints of all kinds of things: biblical imagery, erotica, anatomical illustrations, the stark motifs of German expressionism.
Mastery was never enough for him, though. To profitably sell woodblocks — which can be an oddity in the art market — Washington decided he also needed myth. So he created elaborate origin stories for his pieces.
One word to break the fascist fever.
‘Weird’ And The Breaking of The Fascist Fever “I hate when people laugh at me,” he said somberly at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “I hate it. Hate it. It’s so disrespectful.” This wasn’t a bit, or some practiced schtick he does for his adoring crowds. The Big Boy meant what he said: Don’t laugh at me. I don’t like it.
The End of an Era for Furaffinity
The owner of Furaffinity for most of its existence, the central hub for the Furry community, Dragoneer, has passed away. He has passed at 44 after struggling with an unknown unusual lung condition, possibly caused by A recalled CPAP machine known to cause deaths. He documented his months-long struggle to get medical treatment, Highlighting the financial burden and difficulty of coverage.
The global War on Terror was based on a mistake
For more than two decades, through two wars and domestic upheaval, the idea that al-Qaeda acted alone on 9/11 has been the basis of U.S. policy. A blue-ribbon commission concluded that Osama bin Laden had pioneered a new kind of terrorist group—combining superior technological know-how, extensive resources, and a worldwide network so well coordinated that it could carry out operations of unprecedented magnitude. This vanguard of jihad, it seemed, was the first nonstate actor that rivaled nation-states in the damage it could wreak. That assessment now appears wrong. from New 9/11 Evidence Points to Deep Saudi Complicity [The Atlantic; ungated]
August 6
White-tailed eagles spend a year caring for injured chick
HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU
You ever try making a sourdough starter, but around day three, it starts to smell super pukey, like the Devil's Own Cheese? Apparently that's due to pH levels letting the wrong bacteria thrive before the right ones settle in. Turns out you can skip that foul-smelling phase by simply using pineapple juice rather than water for your initial starter (and part two) to get the pH just right from the start.
My body is a weapon
from "ASAP" to "betimes"
"I’m working on a list of corporate jargon alternatives." Matt Watson proposes that we replace modern business phrases with "equally swanky alternatives from English of a bygone era." Examples: changing "I will check on that and circle back with you." to "I will investigate the matter and bring thee word again." and switching from "This is our new normal." to "Of such is our new state of affairs."
Aero Force One Flies No More
The once high flying staple of macho swaggering Dad Rock, Aerosmith has called it quits on touring. Last year during a September show on their "Peace Out Farewell Tour", Steven Tyler (75 at the time) damaged his vocal cords to the point of bleeding. He has been unable to recover to the point of performing. [more inside]
Fancy talk casserole
Whatever your thoughts are about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz becoming the USA Vice-President candidate on the Kamala Harris ticket, you probably have several questions along these lines: What is hotdish, how is it different from a casserole (because it definitely is)and why do Minnesotans call it that?!
Continuing To Primarily Produce Billing Hours
This week, Elon Musk has added to his already sizable legal problems with two cases on both sides of the courtroom. On the plaintiff side, he has sued the Global Alliance for Responsible Media over them encouraging advertisers to pull ads from Twitter over hate speech and bigotry on the site. On the defendant side, Michigan AG Dana Nessel has opened a criminal investigation into his PAC over their voter registration website violating state laws. [more inside]
“It was part of the art life for me”
Having recently broken a months-long silence on his YouTube channel with another collaboration with Chrystabell, David Lynch reveals in an interview with Sight and Sound that he can no longer direct films in person, due to emphysema contracted after years of cigarette smoking. [more inside]
Women in Japan fight for the right to sterilisation surgery
These women want to be sterilised — they have to fight the law, their country, family and history. Women in Japan face a $4800 fine if they have a sterilisation procedure without their spouse's consent, but there is now a fight to have that changed.
WordStar for DOS
Hugo and Nebula-winning sci-fi writer Robert J. Sawyer was sysop of the Compuserve WordStar forum. Now, he's taken the files of the last released version of seminal word processor WordStar 7.0D for DOS, released in 1992, its company long defunct, and released it, ready to run with two DOS emulators, manuals, and odds and ends from the old Compuserve forum libraries, on his website in a 649 megabyte ZIP download: The Complete WordStar Archive. WordStar is still beloved of some professional writers, including George R.R. Martin. Why use WordStar in 2024? You can read his essay about that. [more inside]
This story has it all
Judge Orders Part of African Art Collection Discovered in Houston Shed Sold to Settle Debt Mysterious smuggled art, evil landlord, embezzlement of civic funds,and bankruptcy.
update on the Chipotle Bowl-thrower who was Forced to Work Fast Food
In December, Night_owl alerted us to Rosemary Hayne, who was sentenced to a job in fast food for throwing a bowl inside a Chipotle in Cleveland. Grub Street has just posted a follow-up, The Empathy Punishment.
(archive link)
(archive link)
"This is preaching to the choir, but the choir needs to sing"
Just sixteen days after Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 election, and less than a week after securing the nomination herself, Kamala Harris has officially announced her running mate: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. A true dark horse candidate, Walz emerged from a crowded field of hopefuls, including astronaut and senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, popular Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, and runner-up Gov. Josh Shapiro of critical swing state Pennsylvania.
The affable Walz -- a former schoolteacher, National Guardsman, and chair of the Democratic Governors Association -- has a track record of winning in conservative terrain and delivering progressive victories despite slim legislative margins. He's also proven to be an extraordinarily effective communicator, winning over skeptics with folksy Midwestern charm and coining a catchphrase -- "weird" -- that captured the zeitgeist and pithily summed up everything wrong with Trump-era Republicans.
Walz will join Harris at a debut rally in Philadelphia tonight (awkward), with the Democratic National Convention starting in two weeks and plans for a VP debate with JD Vance still up in the air. [more inside]
Spending time on the same web site, taking issue, picking fights
The Harmony Codex (YouTube playlist, full album): Having grown up with Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Yes and King Crimson, it staggers me that I've managed to get to 2024 without previously having encountered Steven Wilson. Headphones, an ad blocker and a little over an hour of distraction-free time strongly recommended. Music and visuals are both extraordinary.
Born to Fly
Armand "Mondo" Duplantis breaks own pole vault world record, vaulting a new world record height of 6.25m (20 ft 6 inches). He had earlier secured the gold medal and set a new Olympic record of 6.10m. Detailed analysis of his unorthodox technique (WaPo gift link). [more inside]
Like heroin, fentanyl delivers a euphoric high.
We Bought Everything Needed to Make $3 Million Worth of Fentanyl. All It Took Was $3600 and a Web Browser. (slReuters; interactive)
Vintage snark from 1889
Cycling art, energy and locomotion: series of remarks on the development of bicycles, tricycles, and manmotor carriages by Robert P Scott begins with mathematical analysis of gearing, brakes and wheels, while part two is "designed to amuse rather than to instruct the reader, and intended as a reward to those who have struggled through the foregoing pages". His sarcastic commentary on the odd patented designs that lead up to the development of the modern safety bicycle is timeless.
Many things will disappear one day, the best should disappear last
Opposable Thumbnails
For YouTubers, thumbnails are serious business, as they can make or break a videos’ reach. Top creators such as MrBeast test up to 20 different thumbnail variations on a single video, paying designers a reported $10,000 for a single video. This has spawned a microeconomy of freelance YouTube thumbnails artists around the world, who hone their design skills to attract clicks. Designers and artists who spoke with Rest of World said they’re treating the rise of text-to-image generation AI tools such as Midjourney and AlphaCTR with a mix of anxiety and curiosity. from AI comes for YouTube’s thumbnail industry [Rest of World]
“There are variants in everything human.”
What Happens in a Mind That Can’t ‘See’ Mental Images? Neuroscience research into people with aphantasia, who don’t experience mental imagery, is revealing how imagination works and demonstrating the sweeping variety in our subjective experiences.
progressive succession: occurs one funeral at a time
The Secret Battle for the Future of the Murdoch Empire [ungated] - "Murdoch, 93, set the drama in motion late last year, when he made a surprise move to change the terms of the Murdochs' irrevocable family trust to ensure that his eldest son and chosen successor, Lachlan, would remain in charge of his vast collection of television networks and newspapers." [more inside]
August 5
Endangered western swamp tortoise found alive near Northcliffe, WA
How Do You Reckon With It?
[CW: Discussions of violence, iniquity]
The latest issue of the Tahoma Literary Review has a non-fiction story that is worth sharing with those who question what institutional privilege actually looks like through inter-generational consequences. Grandfather Clause: Tracing Ancestral Privilege to a Century-Old Crime Scene
Bangladesh's government overthrown by protests, P.M. flees to India
Following weeks of anti-government protests over job quotas, in which hundreds of protestors have been killed, Bangladesh's Prime Minister has ended her stretch as the longest-serving female head of government in the world by fleeing to India. [more inside]
"Google is a monopolist, and has acted as one to maintain its monopoly."
After a ten week trial in which testimony was heard from major players in the tech industry like Apple and Microsoft, federal district court judge Amit Mehta has ruled that Google and Alphabet have acted as a monopolist in the realms of online search and online advertising, in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. [more inside]
Program to protect frogs with saunas made of bricks
Anthony's idea for frog-saving saunas went global. Can he harness his viral moment?
At least 90 species of frogs have been made extinct by chytrid fungus worldwide. But a program to protect other frogs with saunas made of bricks is proving promising.
Fascism and antifascism in the UK
'Amid the chaos of far-right protests and violence I saw the best of Bristol' - as the UK is rocked by far right violence Bristol antifa successfully defend a hotel housing asylum seekers against a fascist mob.
"The NBA’s Conduct Will Cause Plaintiffs Irreparable Harm"
In a complaint filed at the end of July with New York State's Supreme Court (which is actually not the state's highest court), TNT Sports and Warner Brothers/Discovery have made good on their threat to sue the NBA [NY Times, archive here] with a claim that NBA failed their obligation to renew an 11-year contract to carry basketball games, choosing instead a $77B deal to run until 2035 with ESPN, NBC and Amazon. [more inside]
Maybe move to Lichtenstein and take up skiing?
Olympic medals per capita or GDP. Choose to view the data for one games or all of them, weighted or not, per capita or by GDP. [more inside]
I got the cards, but not the luck
Global Carry Trade Unwind Extends as Peso Drops, Yen Gains
"The closing of short yen positions represents a “real structural issue” with investors realizing they will have to pay a positive interest rate and unwinding the trade as Japan is expected to raise interest rates at least one more time this year"
[ungated] [more inside]
"Vexation is uncommon, in a creature as old as I am."
"I have always considered myself a cut above the rest. Where they must rely on trickery, I achieve my goals through tact and intellect." [NSFW] June Martin's short fantasy story "Of a Devil, of a Deal" (self-published June 6, 2024 on her Patreon) is a Not Safe For Work fable (no graphics, only text) about a particularly hard-to-fulfill bargain. Can this devil elegantly grant a wish that intertwines two kinds of desire?
Comes up with the craziest, wackiest but best ideas???
What vegetable are you? A delightful quiz to help you discover your inner veggie.
The mother of all public domain art search engines
Public Work is a search engine for public domain content. Explore 100,000+ copyright-free images from The MET, New York Public Library, and other sources.
Here's what happens when you give people free money
Types of people you meet on the Appalachian Trail (who are not trees)
Rusty Foster at WaPo: The Alphas tend to be more outgoing, quizzing any passing thru-hiker about whatever happens to be on their mind, whether hiking-related or not. I don’t believe this is a function of age; rather, it’s generational, since the Alphas as a whole are a feral, no-gods/no-masters generation who recognize no authority and will brook no hint of inequality with man or beast.
Can Lin Dig It?
Twelve years ago, songwriter/actor/singer/filmmaker/rapper/librettist and Emmy/TONY/Grammy/Pulitzer winner and MacArthur fellow Lin-Manuel Miranda started work on an unlikely-sounding project: a musical about the United States' first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. After resting on his laurels a bit, he has announced his next project: a musical based on Sol Yorick's novel The Warriors. [more inside]
Penguin Series Design
"This site explores the graphic design of Penguin book covers, with a focus on series editions." [more inside]
“Most of history gets forgotten, a foul ball sailing into the dark.”
I’m drawn to the mystery of Ring Lardner’s assailant and the details of Ike Francis’s life for reasons I find difficult to define. It’s a sense of something essential hidden away, a small secret part of what made us who we are. It makes me think of those scientists who comb the soil of the Amazon for evidence of ancient civilizations, where nothing else remains but the quality of the earth those vanished people fertilized. The world of the Central League went into the ground with World War I, in both literal and figurative ways. Even Jack Keefe, the Central League narrator of Ring Lardner’s short stories, finds himself eventually in the trenches of France. As the regional minor leagues died out, so-called industrial leagues began to proliferate—semipro organizations of ballclubs populated by workers at factories in New York and Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. This world, too, was as complex as any before, and like all the others it ultimately goes into the ground itself. It is left to memory, and often not even that. from Ring Lardner’s Mysteries of the Central League by By Nicholas Mainieri/
CP/M is 50
The Register reports that CP/M, the "Control Program for Microcomputers," has turned 50 years old! Amstrad released a CP/M laptop, using 720K 3 1/2-inch disks, as late as 1993, as demonstrated by Poking Technology in this Youtube video (19 minutes). CP/M used single-letter designations, like "A:", to represent disk drives. MS-DOS picked that convention up, where it survived into Windows 95 and NT, and has remained a part of Windows throughout its life up to this very day. [more inside]
Is MetaFilter smooth or bumpy, hot or cold... and it's your free thread
Grass underfoot, Leipäjuusto in the mouth, stroking a cat, nettle stings on the body, fingers in clay and chocolate, and cold water and steam on bare skin ... after recent topics of smells and sounds and tastes, what are the textures, things you feel, which linger in your memories ... Or write about whatever is on your mind, in your heart, on your plate or in your journal, because this is your weekly free thread.
August 4
Famous Sycamore Gap tree illegally cut down now showing signs of life
Famous Sycamore Gap tree illegally cut down now showing signs of life. Eight new shoots appear on the stump of a famous tree that was illegally felled in northern England last year.
"Displacement of residents and change in neighborhood character."
I changed how I think about gentrification (Lindsay M. Miller, author of the 2019 essay 'We need to change how we think about gentrification', writing for Denver's Westword)
Muffin reigns supreme
Norwegian Olympic swimmer Henrik Christiansen really really really likes the "choccy muffins" served in the Olympic Village. [more inside]
Re-sourcing the Mind
What might we lose and gain through widespread usage of Large Language Models? The invention of writing allowed a way to offload our thoughts and memories onto objects and it has since formed an indispensable part of our civilization. Technology philosopher L.M. Sacasas examines the historical parallel and asks if we might be losing something fundamentally human as people start using it not just for boilerplate but deeply personal expressions.
Absolutely Nothing
More frightening still is that the stakes are becoming absolute all around. For China, Russia can’t lose in Ukraine or its most powerful ally against the West seeking to contain it will be formidably weakened. For Western leaders and their Asian allies, Russia can’t be allowed to win or the entire liberal order of open societies will be at risk of geopolitical bullying by well-armed autocrats, notably Xi, who they fear will come to believe seizing what they please by force will only be met with limited repercussions. from The World Is Assuming A Pre-War Posture [Noema] [more inside]
Threatened nativeplant species key to unlocking climate-resilient future
Threatened native plant species aren't cute and cuddly, but the key to unlocking a climate-resilient future. Brandan Espe goes to great lengths — and occasionally puts his life at risk — to collect rare plants due to their environmental importance.
August 3
The history of chemical laboratories: a thematic approach
“designed from the beginning to operate while in tatters”
Was the Internet Designed to Survive a Nuclear Attack? is an essay by computer historian Chris McKenzie which traces the origins of the popular myth that the Internet was the result of an attempt to create a military command and control network that wasn’t vulnerable to a single nuclear strike. Via Bruce Sterling, who wrote an early version of the narrative.
Milestone Achieved At Caltech
Earlier this week, Caltech announced that for the first time in its history, it has reached gender parity in its incoming undergraduate class. [more inside]
How do you kill this pest? By importing its natural enemy
How do you kill this pest? By importing its natural enemy. The
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) introduces a biocontrol fungus in the hope it reduces the spread of African boxthorn weed, but it is not available outside New South Wales due to lack of funding.
Jax wrote a song for her dad
I wrote a song about my dad getting older - Jax and her dad in the car. One of several charming and heartwarming songs/shorts by Jax. Recently discovered by me - though she has 3M followers on YouTube and 14M on TikTok. Enjoyable content for enjoyment. [more inside]
The most bleeding edge stack of all time
How to save $13.27 on your sAAs bill. Hilarious. Sometimes, the boundary between the real and the parody is just a few lines of code.
The very serious function of racism
On 30 May 1975, Toni Morrison, Primus St. John, John Callahan, Susan Callahan, and Lloyd Baker convened for the second part of the “Black Studies Center Public Dialogue" [PDF transcript] at Portland State University. During the dialogue, Toni Morrison said a number of important things, but one piece in particular has stood out in later years [previously; previouslier]. [more inside]
Bossman vs Roadman
As if a baby orca had been hitched to two snowplows
People in the industry tend to think that flight is useful and awesome, and not necessarily in that order. One of the reasons that the idea of flying cars has endured is that it seems to promise two different kinds of freedom: on the one hand, to get from point A to point B without a lot of hassle; on the other hand, to know the euphoria of exploring the third dimension. Most people at these companies got into the business because they were personally enraptured by flight. They are nonetheless well aware that airplanes and automobiles have vastly different requirements, and that the vision of a car that both drives and flies never made a ton of sense. from Are Flying Cars Finally Here? [The New Yorker; ungated]
"People are idiots."
What does it mean that hundreds of thousands of players are clicking on a banana? Clicker games are the inevitable end-point of the rise of bots and microtransactions.
August 2
Everyone thought this tiny lizard was extinct — then it turned up
Everyone thought this tiny lizard was extinct — then it turned up on Melbourne's fringe. Emi Arnold and Pat Monarca were about to finish work when they spotted a long-lost tiny dragon. Now Zoos Victoria is leading the charge to bring the reptiles back from the brink.
Stumpy lives! Iconic Tidal Basin cherry tree’s little ones take root
It was a sad farewell in D.C. when a beloved Tidal Basin cherry tree had to be removed in the spring. But there’s hope on the horizon as cuttings from “Stumpy” have taken root.
I was always more of a Maru guy.
The legend of Keyboard Cat: How a man and his cat(s) won the internet lottery. Part of Mashable's Tales of the Early Internet. [more inside]
Simone Biles has reached heights previously considered impossible
"Biles’s aerial somersaults reach an incredible height. In Tuesday’s floor routine, seven feet of air separated her four-foot-eight frame from the ground beneath her. Through the power of arithmetic, we can confidently say that means her head was eleven feet and eight inches above the ground. If that feels abstract, allow us to provide some concrete examples for you." A Partial Inventory of Items Simone Biles Could Jump Over in Her Floor Routine, from Dan Solomon at the always fabulous Texas Monthly.
See Me, Feel Me, LinkMe
The third in an ongoing series of experiments for a different kind of MetaFilter experience: Come across an interesting link recently that you'd like to share, but don't want to work it up into a full post? Share it here for our perusal, nbd. And if you'd like to post something but need some inspiration, check out the links here to see what other members have found interesting and would like to read more about! Just tag the resulting post "LinkMe" and include a nod back to the original suggestion. No self-linking and usual site rules apply, but otherwise feel free to post whatever you like! Look inside for a rundown of posts to come out of the last few threads. [more inside]
I Can Feel It Coming In the Gatorwine
Babish, aka Andrew Rea of the Babish Culinary Universe, ranks the strangest recipes submitted to him by his viewers. Featuring gatorwine, a number of brief musical interludes inspired by gatorwine, and a range of scores for the strange recipes going from 0 (tuna tacos. but not like, the good kind. you'll see.) to 10 (pokkorn, a delicious looking take on popcorn).
Cobra venom could potentially be treated with a blood thinner
Blood thinner could revolutionise treatment for cobra venom. Cobra venom could potentially be treated with a commonly prescribed blood thinner, new research has indicated.
At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference
“You know, stranger things have happened than Bigfoot.” (slTheParisReview)
Team 10
$10M cash withdrawal drove secret probe into whether Trump took money from Egypt by Aaron C. Davis and Carol D. Leonnig (WaPost gift link)
The Data behind "Childless Cat Ladies"
WaPo's Dept. of Data looks at the numbers. (gift link) In a similar fashion to Trump being confused about Harris being both Indian and Black, I stand for all of us who have cats and dogs. We're out, we're proud, we're spending too much on cat food because the dogs keep sneaking in and helping themselves to it.
The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector: 11 hours and 31 minutes
"How Long to Read is a book search engine that helps you find out how long it will take to read books and provide reading time data that is tailored to you. With our simple WPM (words per minute) test you can find out how long it will take you to read almost anything, and also use our search engine to find books that will fit the time you have to read." [more inside]
a babe without a name (SL music video)
A sad and sweet animated clip made for the Queen song All Dead All Dead. This song came out in 1977 on the album News of the World; the video was made in 2017 at the 40-year anniversary of the album. The lead vocals on this version were sung by Mercury, not May, who sang them on the original version. [more inside]
An antidote for fear
The question of student surveillance is made more difficult by a lack of clear data on whether it works and if so, whether the collateral damage to privacy is justified. School officials across the country defend the use of such surveillance by arguing that if it saves just one life, it’s worth it. But is it worth it if it turns schools into virtual prisons? “Through a careful review of the existing evidence, and through interviews with dozens of school staff, parents and others,” wrote a group of Rand researchers in February, “we found that AI based monitoring, far from being a solution to the persistent and growing problem of youth suicide, might well give rise to more problems than it seeks to solve.” from Spyware turned this Kansas high school into a ‘red zone’ of dystopian surveillance [Kansas Reflector]
August 1
it's the sound of the summer
A few days ago, Drew Daniel posted on Twitter: had a dream I was at a rave talking to a girl and she told me about a genre called “hit em” that is in 5/4 time at 212 bpm with super crunched out sounds thank you dream girl
In the days since, people have kept sharing their own.
“Today ... was a very good day.”
Journalist Evan Gershkovich has come home. Gershkovich and two other Americans who had been wrongfully imprisoned in Russia came home today - along with citizens of Germany, Britain, and Belarus. Seven Russians - political prisoners, some of them associates of Alexei Navalny - were also released. This is the largest prisoner swap since the collapse of the Soviet Union. [more inside]
Cute Story in Aisle Five
A social media post about 90s game show contestants brought the internet some warm fuzzy feelings this week. Dan Kois interviews the Supermarket Sweep set building "business partners" for Slate and reveals a bonus twist.
Differences between USA and AUS broadcasts of the Opening Ceremonies
On Friday, July 26, 2024, during the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, an artistic performance intended to be a part of the planned program was not broadcast in the United States. At approximately two hours into the broadcast, shortly after the introduction of France's athletes (the last group to be introduced), the program moved to a series of music and dance performances, including a floating disco and a Dionysian feast. During this, the US broadcast cut away to advertising breaks and exclusive interviews with US-based athletes while audiences outside the US remained with the main program. • See the differences in this segment, each broadcast side-by-side, via this fifteen-minute video hosted by the Internet Archive. [more inside]
Puts the Nom into Phenomenology
Evolution of the Italian pasta ripiena: the first steps toward a scientific classification - Pievani et al h/t RadicalAnthro [more inside]
we'll oppose it until we don't
Kill Bill x Rav x Hatsune Miku - THINGS WILL GET MUCH WORSE FROM HERE. Single link music video (3:18). [ CW: fast flashing images, body horror, AI discourse, depressing earworm bop with some absolutely devastating lines. ] [more inside]
Greater Stick Nest Rats Surviving On Island
How this tiny native rat on the brink of extinction is thriving on an island infested with snakes. A rat which became extinct on mainland Australia by the 1930s is staying safe from predators on an island off South Australia by living in one of Australia's worst invasive weeds.
Queer Quest
Queer Quest- All In A Gay's Work is what happens when a gay Monkey Island meets a feminist Liesure Suit Larry. [more inside]
Faster, Better, Lighter
Samsung has announced its pilot solid-state EV battery production line is now fully operational. The solid state batteries can power electric vehicles with a 600-mile range [YMMV but the range is projected to double in the same volume with less mass], charge in 9 minutes [10%-80%], and have a lifespan of 20 years.
Geology and Chicanery
The Swindling Geologist, as he came to be called, first appeared in the news in 1884, following his arrest on February 9, in Philadelphia (Part 1). Pretending to be W. R. Taggart of the Ohio Geological Survey, he had befriended Ferdinand V. Hayden, of the United States Geological Survey, and stolen one of his rare books and made off with $20. Of course he was innocent, he said. Someone acting as an imposter and smearing his good name was responsible for the charges of swindling attributed to him. (Part 2) . By David B. Williams (substack)
tiny houses
a miniature renaissance is upon us. “There’s an explosion of popularity around miniatures these days; it has emerged as this pop culture phenomenon" [AD]
Why the world's oceans are changing colour
A vexed and interesting enterprise
A finished novel stands as a kind of monument to the author’s pristine intentions, plans, themes. The actual making of the text (at least in my case) is actually vagrant and random. I can’t quite remember how I stumbled into writing a book with quite a bit of football in it, but part of the decision must have been that I had to make use of the countless hours, probably adding up to years, that I’d spent playing, watching, and having feelings about this sport, most of them devoted to Manchester United, the team I’ve followed since I was seven years old. I wasn’t proceeding like a complete zombie, however. I had a basic drama in mind—the search for an African soccer prospect who tantalizingly appears in a video—and of course I was aware that in recent years football has become a global industry of incalculable financial value, not to mention an industry of travels, transactions, human adventures—the fun stuff. from Joseph O’Neill on Writing a Socially Relevant Soccer Novel [LitHub] [more inside]