October 22, 2020
"I don't believe in haunted games," Carrie said. She was lying.
Four short fantasy stories in which unpleasant things happen to characters who (kinda?) seem to deserve them. "The Wolf and the Woodsman" by T. Kingfisher (a.k.a. Ursula Vernon), a darkly funny "Little Red Riding Hood" retelling about a That Guy. "The Vampire of Kovácspéter" by P H Lee (2020; author interview) is witty: "The village of Kovácspéter was plagued by a vampire, which was increasingly embarrassing." And "Nobody Gets Out Alive" by George R. Galuschak (2020), a thriller about a livestreaming celebrity getting back at her stalker. [more inside]
Debate 2: Now With Muting!
Here's the CNN livestream, go to it, you crazy kids.
welcome theramin
Neo-nazi party is a criminal organization
After 5,5 years, the landmark trial of Golden Dawn ended with seven former MPs of the neo-Nazi party being convicted as leaders of a criminal organisation (1) (2). All other former MPs were convicted as participants in the organisation.
In the final act of a marathon five-year, politically charged trial, the three-judge panel ordered a total of 39 people, including 13 former lawmakers, jailed, rejecting appeals for suspended sentences.
It ruled 12 others, including five former lawmakers, would remain free pending their appeals.
Thursday's decision came after two weeks of summations by defense lawyers following the prosecutor's recommendation that all former Golden Dawn lawmakers be allowed to remain free pending appeal. (1) (2) (3) [more inside]
at last, something NIMBy that i can get behind
No-Instrument Mixing Board is a full-length album of manipulated feedback by Japanese musician Toshimaru Nakamura, whose instrument is a mixing board with its output plugged into its input. (Track 4 has some very high frequency tones; you may want to skip to 25:20 when those show up if you still have your hearing up there.)
But how does it taste
Mysteries of the 2,500-year-old butter found at the bottom of a loch (The Scotsman): “Because of the fantastic anaerobic conditions, where there is very light, oxygen or bacteria to break down anything organic, you get this type of sealed environment. When they started excavating, they pulled out this square wooden dish, well around three quarters of a square wooden dish, which had these really nice chisel marks on the sides as well as this grey stuff.” Related: Bog Butter Barrels and Ireland’s 3000-Year-Old Refrigerators (JSTOR Daily) [more inside]
McBroken
Twitter user @rashiq: I reverse engineered mcdonald's internal api and I'm currently placing an order worth $18,752 every minute at every mcdonald's in the US to figure out which locations have a broken ice cream machine
How to online conference in 2020? Make a MUD!
Using Game Design to Make Virtual Events More Social.
A thoughtful writeup of how this years's Roguelike Celebration conference was designed as a MUD-like social space, avoiding some of the pitfalls of online events in 2020. "Instead of using Zoom and Discord, what if we built our own event platform and social space, built from the ground up to foster the sorts of intimate social interaction that made the in-person event special?"
What If Friendship, Not Marriage, Was at the Center of Life?
Rhaina Cohen writes about the people who prioritize friendship over romance for The Atlantic Many of those who place a friendship at the center of their life find that their most significant relationship is incomprehensible to others. But these friendships can be models for how we as a society might expand our conceptions of intimacy and care. [more inside]
Majoring in sports
A Washington Post op-ed argues that colleges ought to create academic departments for sports. The idea is that athletics would be treated as another liberal art, and that the academic departments would function like music, dance, or drama departments, with a "sports performance" major. Coaches would be professors or instructors, but the departments would also offer traditional academic classes in addition to instruction in athletic activities themselves. Appeals are made to the ancient Greeks.
We Care A Lot
What A Thrill
Kotaku writer Ash Parrish capped off an article discussing the sublime theme to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater with a request for the singer, Cynthia Harrell, to contact her to discuss the song further.
Then, she managed to track Ms Harrell down, using her photo from the cover of the single of "I Am The Wind" from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
The street finds its own uses for facial recognition
A skilled hobbyist turns facial recognition around Legal issues, a little about methods, ethical issues.
Milwaukee band TENLo has a dreamy new single out, Sunlight
Milwaukee band TENLo just put out a new single, Sunlight. The video has Stormy Daniels in it, which is neat, but the video is pretty cute and innocent, and the song is just incredible. It's a good way to wake up. Enjoy!
K Bye
The mobile-focused streaming service Quibi, set up by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, has announced it will close just six months after its launch. [more inside]
YADKCOLSPAC
OCTOBER 22 IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY!!!
EVERY YEAR WE GET TOGETHER AND MAKE SALMON FOR TOAST, EVERY YEAR WE GET A CROCKETY BLOAT, EVERY YEAR WE GET DRUNK ON THE DOCKS, AND EVERY YEAR WE HAVE SEX WITH OUR CAPS LOCKS!!!!
A Representative in Every Sense of the Word
Masha Gessen profiles Chase Strangio and his recent victories for transgender rights in the US as the ACLU’s deputy director for transgender justice (The New Yorker). Previously: Bostock v. Clayton County (June 2020).
Masked bandits of the wildlife kind
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