August 24, 2019
The Figure 8 Voyage
Randall Reeves is some 270 days into The Figure 8 Voyage, a solo circumnavigation of both the American and Antarctic continents in one season. This is his second attempt at the journey, the first curtailed by knockdowns resulting in significant damage to his vessel MOLI. His blog is updated most days. You can follow his progress on a map. He frequently has conversations with the windvane. He also posts infrequently to his YouTube, for example how he makes coffee at sea.
How'd you like to be the iceman? It was a good gig before refrigeration.
Before the pool boy, mailman or milkman was the working class Lothario, in the time before refrigeration, New York’s ice-delivery men inspired raunchy jokes, songs, and movies (Gastro Obscura). The first song was "How'd You Like To Be The Iceman?" (circa 1899; sheet music from LOC), which lead to a few response records, including "All She Gets From The Iceman Is Ice" (sheet music from UMaine). There were also a few short silent films, released in 1899 and 1900 (IMDb x2), though neither of those appear to be online.
At a Loss for Words: Why millions of kids are poor readers
For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't know there's anything wrong with it.
Two masters...
Bang Your Head (It's a Celebration)!
What if Kool & the Gang toured with Quiet Riot?
+Kool & the Gang - Celebration
+Quiet Riot - Bang Your Head (Metal Health) [more inside]
+Kool & the Gang - Celebration
+Quiet Riot - Bang Your Head (Metal Health) [more inside]
A Colourful Craze - the humble Nudibranch
"No matter where you dive or who you dive with there will be someone, Instructor, photographer or your average diver, who will be raving about Nudibranches. What are they? Why do they have such a dedicated following? And, indeed, why are they so awesome?" [more inside]
toys for emotionally tormented sea captains
The Art Gallery of Ontario hosts the Thomson collection of model ships, many of which were carved from bone by French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic wars. [more inside]
this is my ray post i don't have a jj post
Ambitious but Unnecessary
'Matt Chats With Cats'... Reacts to 'Cats'. Matt (previously) narrates the 'Cats' trailer (previously). Posted because Matt finally appears on-camera so you can see the face that goes with That Cat-Chatting Voice. (SLYT)
We’re What We Wear Wherever We Are
This genius photo experiment shows we are all just sheeple in the consumer matrix — Images from the same exact spot for two hours at a time... Photographer Hans Eijkelboom has spent more than 20 years cataloging the ways that globalized culture manifests through apparel. [From TimeLine by Rian Dundon; related interview (with some NSFW images) at Phaidon]
Inside Facebook’s Underground Market for Rare Meat
Lesbian Space Crime
NASA is currently looking into what may be the first instance of crime in space. Also of interest: the first protest in space (2017), the first strike in space (1973).
Nooo they be stealin mah donut
Three years ago, the famous orange dinosaur residing on Route 1 in Saugus, MA, was saved from extinction when the developer who bought its former mini-golf home agreed to keep the fiberglass statue so beloved it was immortalized in beer. In March 2019, the dinosaur was given a giant, illuminated donut courtesy of Kane's Donuts, which was soon removed for running afoul of the city's zoning ordinances. [more inside]
"only one slice...was necessary to fill the can."
A June Hog is the name for an oversized Chinook salmon. While there's still some debate about why we don't see as many of these fish as we used to, there are still some large fish out there.
Hypermedia next gen venture ultra super click bait - future of news
This man is not the adult in the room at the former Gawker Media, just as Kendall Roy was not the adult in the room at Vaulter and Alden Global Capital executives are not the adult in the room at any of the 100 newspapers they are destroying. Sending a copied-and-pasted company handbook, issuing vague edicts about becoming sites for “enthusiasts,” and making inexplicable changes for the sake of making changes are the professional equivalent of a small boy dressing up in his father’s suit: He is role-playing, deluding himself but no one else.
Bounty hunting is a complicated profession.
The Mandalorian [YouTube] [Trailer] Live-action Star Wars is returning to TV with The Mandalorian, the first non-animated Star Wars TV project since the infamous Caravan of Courage. Now, we finally have a look of what to expect from Disney+ and Jon Favreau’s mysterious tale of a wanderer on the outer rim of the galaxy far, far away. [via Gizmodo]
A Couple’s Labor Of Love Keeps Wilderness Trails Open For Others
The Kalmiopsis Wilderness has crystal clear rivers, native salmon and steelhead and the rarest of plants.
After wildland fires destroyed the trails of the Kalmiopsis, people said they'd never be rebuilt. One young couple refused to accept that answer.
What drives our addiction to social media
If social media is an addiction machine, the addictive behaviour it is closest to is gambling: a rigged lottery. Every gambler trusts in a few abstract symbols – the dots on a dice, numerals, suits, red or black, the graphemes on a fruit machine – to tell them who they are. In most cases, the answer is brutal and swift: you are a loser and you are going home with nothing. The true gambler takes a perverse joy in anteing up, putting their whole being at stake. On social media, you scratch out a few words, a few symbols, and press send, rolling the dice. The internet will tell you who you are and what your destiny is through arithmetic likes, shares and comments. A long read from The Guardian published August 23, 2019. [more inside]
Don't Get Too Comfortable!
When Kiki DuRane and Herb performed their farewell show at Carnegie Hall, the evening turned into a 2h30m+ orgy of wide-ranging cabaret covers spanning their career and covering the story of their lives from their beginnings in clubs in the 1950s and through to that night on stage in 2004. Some friends drop by across the evening, too. I won't link each of the 31 tracks, but here is a YouTube playlist [2h36m].
"The Woman Who Can Keep Secrets"
The Russian spy who posed as a Canadian for more than 20 years – The Guardian talks to Elena Vavilova, who acted the part of a Canadian woman named Tracy Foley, an identity stolen for her by the KGB, for two decades. It’s the first time any of the deep-cover illegals has spoken to non-Russian media since their return to the country. Her family’s story was the inspiration for the TV series "The Americans". [more inside]
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