March 28, 2024
Waterhole home to plants that don't grow underwater elsewhere
SA's spring-fed limestone waterhole home to plants not seen underwater anywhere else in the world.
The filtered limestone environment of the Ewens Ponds provides the perfect condition for plants that don't usually grow fully submerged in water. This is one of the sinkhole's many unique aspects.
The Cut Has Done It Again
"He is ten years older than I am. I chose him on purpose, not by chance. As far as life decisions go, on balance, I recommend it." [more inside]
Managing risk and taking care of accidents in the wilderness
"Wilderness Medicine Wednesday" is a series of ten-minute YouTube videos by Brett Friedman, a wilderness first aid instructor and a former paramedic. So far he's covered snakebites, hypothermia (including demonstrating the effects of mild hypothermia on himself), ticks, and CPR in the backcountry. In longer videos he's shared his perspective on other YouTubers' recordings of their wilderness mishaps, such as a burn and a hiking misadventure.
Oh my gosh, no. Don't even, no. Go to Vegas.
Are the Middle Ages a good destination for a bachelor party? What backstory should you use to avoid saying you're a time traveler? Will you be instantly identified as a witch and burned at the stake? Here's some advice for time traveling to medieval Europe (and an addendum with the answer to some common questions)
"How pathetic it looked, how unable for life."
I have been pregnant five times, and intimately involved in two pregnancies not my own. My experiences of pregnancy have led me to a conclusion that has not been stated clearly or often. The word “pregnancy” must always be preceded by the definite article this.(archive.org link, cw for some detailed talk about a miscarriage) [more inside]
WELCOME TO THE WOOORLD OF TOMORROW
March 28, 1999: Futurama. It seems to go on and on forever. In fact, the pilot episode of the original run aired 25 years ago tonight, kicking off what would become one of the smartest and most hilarious comedies in TV history. So celebrate with an overview of character intros, ★ key scenes, clips, ♫ songs, and other links, why not? [more inside]
Richard Serra (1938-2024)
And also an insurance company, which is a non-magic criminal.
SBF sentenced to 25 years in prison
BBC article. He is planning to appeal. Failing that, I believe he should (under US federal-crime sentencing guidelines) have to serve at least 21 years of the 25. [more inside]
They are risen
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence began in 1979 when a small group of gay men in San Francisco donned the habit of Catholic nuns, and used camp to subvert expectations & promote social and political change in San Francisco. Sacrilege or serious parody? Illicit joy or elicit compassionate apraxis? The Sisters have grown into an organization of queer joy with 65 houses in 10 countries. This Sunday Easter in the Park: Hunky Jesus and Foxy Mary Competition is set to attract 10,000+ attendants, but the works of a Sister is never done. [more inside]
Exposed The true story of a lost documentary.
Spacefaring, or How We Decide How We Expand into the Solar System
Moonshot mania is already blasting off (previously, previouslier), but scientists are worried our celestial neighbor will be strip-mined and built out before it's fully studied. The cosmic land rush to build moon bases and harvest space helium-3 has researchers pleading to protect lunar zones that could hold the key to alien life and the universe's deepest secrets. [more inside]
Folks from round ere ain’t from round ere
Why Is Our Culture So Obsessed With Individual Experience?
"If you stand before a Van Gogh painting, its meaning is not self-evident; maybe the shoes on the floor are the point, maybe the angle of perspective is the point, maybe something about the market for yellow pigment is the point, and so we have to process what is before us. If you stand in a yoga pose at the Immersive Van Gogh Morning Class, contemplation isn’t the goal; total sensory fusion is. This shift from contemplation to intense experience is sold as liberating, but it parallels other social and economic shifts that aren’t so great." A Jacobin interview with Anna Kornbluh, author of Immediacy: Or, The Style of Too Late Capitalism.
Ma,Ma,Ma...Ma,Ma...Look what I can do!
You might be more likely to send a text or email these days, however, some people still use letters to send fan mail. While plenty of celebrities receive messages of adoration, it turns out that you can also send fan mail to the “Mona Lisa.”
Thanks to a special mailing address as well as a mailslot in the Louvre that’s located in the area of the famous artwork that was created by Leonardo da Vinci in 1503, those who feel inclined can write a message to the beloved masterpiece.
What could they possibly say in their notes? Artnet explains: [more inside]
“Every day, there were fewer and fewer kings.”
The Achilles Trap doubles as a surprisingly sympathetic study of a man who, as his powers slipped away, spent the last decade of his life jerry-rigging monuments of his own magnificence. Coll draws much of his material from extensive interviews with retired American intelligence officers and former members of Saddam’s bureaucracy, as well as from a previously unavailable archive of audio tapes from Saddam’s own state offices. What emerges is a portrait of Saddam as an eccentric in the mold of G.K. Chesterton—if Chesterton were bloodthirsty, paranoid, and power-mad—a man driven ultimately by deep reverence for the sense that hides beneath nonsense. from Saddam’s Secret Weapon, a review of The Achilles Trap by Steve Coll [The American Conservative]
The Devil - a Life
"In the past nine years, [Nick Cave] has lost two sons – an experience he explores in a shocking, deeply personal new ceramics project. He discusses mercy, forgiveness, making and meaning."
A longish interview from this morning's Guardian.
Animal Hybrids That Exist in Nature
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