June 18, 2023
Frei! Freeeiiiiii!
'But this is the kind of Christianity I can believe in.’
He’s Deeply Religious and a Democrat. He Might Be the Next Big Thing in Texas Politics. - James Talarico confounds Fox News hosts, fights the culture wars by quoting scripture, and has fellow Democrats talking about his statewide future. [more inside]
2023 Mens' Ashes Series
The first match of the 2023 Men's Ashes series is underway, at Edgebaston in England. So far Australia's Usman Khawaja has made 141, dismissed by England's Ollie Robinson. Previously, previously, previously, previously. [more inside]
“Don’t speak of how women can’t become heroes”
Qiu Jin was a Chinese feminist revolutionary [archive link] beheaded by agents of the Qing empire in 1907, becoming a martyred hero to her cause. She was also a poet, and Canadian translator (and SF writer) Yilin Wang has been publishing new translations of her poetry in various venues. For more about her approach, you can read her essay about translating. These new translations have been widely appreciated, including by the British Museum, who stole them and published without attribution or compensation.
The Nile is the world’s longest river? The Amazon would like a word.
Guinness World Records, Britannica and the U.S. government agree: The longest river in the world is the mighty Nile — the “father of African rivers,” Britannica says. But in Brazil, home to the powerful Amazon River, which cleaves South America more than slithers across it, the Nile’s standing is slightly lower. “Second biggest river in the world,” scoffs Portuguese-speaking Wikipedia. “The Amazon is the most extensive in the world,” declares the educational website Brazil School. (archive.today link)
another kind of spanglish
Linguists have identified a new English dialect that’s emerging in South Florida "“We got down from the car and went inside.” “I made the line to pay for groceries.”“He made a party to celebrate his son’s birthday.” These phrases might sound off to the ears of most English-speaking Americans. In Miami, however, they’ve become part of the local parlance."[via]
Coercive Diplomacy
Coercive diplomacy [PDF], "where international politics often takes place in a gray region involving no-peace and no-war, wherein the threat of violence – more than its mere application – is the critical variable," is everywhere. China recently published a laundry list of the US' efforts, while China's are also well-known, if less-than-effective. [more inside]
A Shrine To Inflexibility
Twitter is being evicted from its Boulder, Colorado office due to lack of rent payments over the past 12 months. This isn't a surprise, as we have seen Musk decline to pay for rent in San Francisco or even for Google Cloud services. But what is not mentioned is that this eviction is over a completely new and unused Boulder Colorado office. This is a comedy of errors - an office space that was planned before the pandemic and then, somehow, built anyway while everyone was working from home. Rod Hilton provides the background, with pictures, in a Mastodon thread.
Listen here, you delusional orange twat-waffle
Some Sunday Silliness™:
Infinite, interactive Trump vs. Biden "debate" on Twitch, powered by ✨A.I.✨
(tw: bad language. also: Trump)
I don't really like to talk about myself
Happy Pride Month! Ferron [Wikipedia] is one of the godmothers of queer woman's music. She talks to Rainbow Table along with filmmaker Gerry Rogers about her career and songwriting. [~50m] Trailer for documentary Girl On A Road. [4m25s] But because this is Ferron, there is a second documentary! Thunder sneak peak 1 [9m30s], sneak peak 2 [7m12s], trailer [4m50s] And from 2022, Ferrron's full set at Vancouver Island Musicfest [58m]
Crochet artist who made clothes for rock stars
"Meet the Swedish Artist Who Hooked British Rock Royalty on Her Revolutionary Crochet". At the start of her career, Birgitta Bjerke crocheted garments for Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey and other VIPs of the 1960s and 1970s. "Today, at 80, Bjerke continues to divide her time between Pecos, New Mexico, and Gotland, Sweden, and is making some of the best crochet of her career". She makes paintings with crochet too, and works for films and television.
Aspect Ratios!
how TV screens made watching movies worse (or alternate VR version) is a 20-minute discussion rant from Youtuber noodle about the issues with home movie formats, TVs, and especially aspect ratios. [more inside]
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