January 10, 2015
You may not have known his name, but you definitely knew who he was
Comedian and actor Taylor Negron, dead at 57 from cancer You may remember him from such movies as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Better Off Dead, or The Last Boy Scout. You may also remember him from his work as a writer and producer, notably in The Aristocrats. [more inside]
There's a camera in the fuel tank of this rocket
Early Saturday morning, Space-X launched CRS-5, another supply run to the International Space Station. It was also an attempt to land the first stage on a barge in the Atlantic ocean, in hopes of recovering the booster to keep costs down. It failed, but came really close. But the most impressive aspect of this launch were the views from the internal LO2 tank camera of the 2nd stage. [more inside]
challenging traditional notions of masculinity
Former football player & star of the popular series of Old Spice commercials Terry Crews speaks on CBC's "Q" about rejecting caricatures of manhood (both video & audio-only available at the link) [more inside]
East of Palo Alto’s Eden
A history of East Palo Alto (SLTechCrunch) "a story of how two neighboring communities [Palo Alto and EPA] followed entirely different trajectories in post-war California — one of enormous wealth and power, and the other of resilience amid deprivation"
A researcher, a data journalist, and a designer walk into a bar.
The good people at Information Is Beautiful took the data from the "75+ classic cocktail recipes from the International Bartender’s Association’s list of drinks every bartender should know" and turned into into a beautiful reference chart. As an added bonus, they converted the ingredients to proportions for easy scaling. Cheers!
That's a lotta books
Over the past ten years, an organization called PJ Library Has distributed more than ten million free children's books and music with Jewish content directly to children ages 0 to 8 across the United States. The program is modeled on Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Not always without controversy, books contain information about Jewish-American culture, Israel, general values, Jewish holidays, and even occasionally mysticism.
In 2014 PJL announced a new program to distribute books to Arab-Israeli preschoolers. Sign up here.
A little Willie and more on a Saturday night
Just a Saturday night reprieve A celebration of Willie Nelson , a songwriter and singer who never fails to evoke some emotion. With these vids he does not fail. I think he is our modern day Hank Williams Enjoy these duos with some of the worlds most contemporary artists. Diana Krall and Elvis Costello , Norah Jones and finally Wynton Marsalis.
Another game folds to computers.
Two player limit hold 'em solved, say University of Alberta researchers. You can try it yourself here. Poker (at least this variant) now joins such solved games (solved games previously) as tic-tac-toe, connect four, and checkers. [more inside]
BBC Mini-Documentary on South Dakota's Underground Music Scene
"There's situations where it limits you in terms of where you can play, but the people who want to hear you are starving to hear you. Starving like you'd have no idea." A rumble has been increasing in volume for the past few decades in South Dakota, disrupting American's perceptions of a state widely known for cattle ranches and desolate landscapes. The music scene has been growing steadily, stuffing sweaty bars and underground venues with punk, heavy metal and rap groups made up of the city's teenagers and twenty-somethings. (5min21sec video) [more inside]
"Salt, salt, salt, salt, salt, salt"
Why is this white man so angry?
White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable. A 2011 paper by Robin DiAngelo, author, Associate Professor of Multicultural Education, and workplace diversity trainer, explores the challenges of confronting racism which result from the inability of white people to accept that they are beneficiaries of a racist system.
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How People Steal Houses in Philadelphia
A tip on a shady deed transfer involving a man who died in 1980 is continuing to uncover many other instances; an on-going nine-part (so far) investigation. [more inside]
Improving public policy (gov't) using behavioral economic evidence
Raj Chetty gives the 2015 Richard T. Ely Lecture (video, slides; talk begins at 9m) for the AEA: [more inside]
Dawn Wall 2015
Rock climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson are nearing completion of an attempt to free climb the Dawn Wall (pic, route map) of El Cap in Yosemite. Over 3000' tall and consisting of 30 pitches (14 rated above 5.13), this will become the hardest free climb in the world.
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Star Wars feat. The Joker and Bane
The Emperor Voiced by Mark Hamill's Joker * Darth Vader with Bane's Voice - Luke vs Vader * Mark Hamill's Emperor takes down Jar-Jar Binks
The Ancient Greeks were, I'm afraid, faceist.
"A rather different story though when it comes to the female of the species. Hesiod - an 8th/7th Century BC author whose works were as close as the Greeks got to a bible - described the first created woman simply as kalon kakon – 'the beautiful-evil thing'. She was evil because she was beautiful, and beautiful because she was evil. Being a good-looking man was fundamentally good news. Being a handsome woman, by definition, spelt trouble." [more inside]
Boston Will Bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics
The Olympic Rings over Fenway? Are you wicked stupid? On Thursday the U.S. Olympic Committee chose Boston as America’s bidding city for the 2024 Olympics, beating out San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles in the Olympic sweepstakes. As would be expected from Bostonians, reaction is less than enthusiastic. [more inside]
Does rehabilitation means getting to play professional football again?
How nice it would have been if the whole sorry saga of Ched Evans had been left in 2014. Unfortunately, Oldham Athletic are the latest team to suggest that they are considering signing the convicted rapist to play for their side, here on the other side of December 31st. If you - like me – think this is a truly terrible, awful decision, then you will be used to hearing the same arguments put forward in his defence, so here is a handy rebuttal guide.Lucy Hunter Johnson on why convicted rapist Ched Evans shouldn't play football. [more inside]
The new London is a dream that strangers are dreaming in your bed.
David Sedaris talks to UK MPs about Litter.
On 6 January 2015, MPs on the Communities and Local Government Committee took evidence on litter. David Sedaris gave evidence and the whole session is available here. The Guardian has highlights. [more inside]
1977: A Year in a Day
1977: A Year in a Day. Here you go. Twenty-four hours - yes, a full human day - of songs from the year 1977. Carefully compiled over the course of two years. Scroll down to day one. Download. Enjoy.
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