October 30, 2016
"What else you gon' do?"
Vince Staples is interviewed by Simone White
I never wanted to be a rapper; I like to be quiet in my music. Actually, having this job, I don't know… I know that certain music made me want to feel and do stuff on the wrong side of the fence, so my whole thing is being mindful of that reality and not pretending it's not there. That's more of a responsibility where I'm from, you know? Life has a soundtrack. And certain music is a soundtrack to a certain type of identity or feeling. So what happens sometimes when you don't pay attention to what you say and what you do, like 50 Cent, the Game, and those kinds of guys—they made us feel like our lives were worth nothing, basically.
"the sole internationalism—if it existed—had been that of deserters"
The ghouls of No Man's Land James Deutsch explores an urban legend from the First World War, and its decades-long afterlife. (SLSmithsonian)
Hipsters, Calaveras, and Cultura: Day of the Dead gets complicated
In the past decade, more and more North Americans of non-Mexican origin have begun celebrating some version of el Día de los Muertos. Predictably, this has led to accusations of cultural appropriation. Not so predictably, the targets of the latest complaints are the government officials in Mexico who have just turned the Day of the Dead into a major tourist attraction. [more inside]
Jump right into the scary parts
Swimming with tuna
Sure, we swim with dolphins, sharks, rays, and a whole host of other marine creatures—but tuna?--Hakai Magazine on controversy in South Australia's tuna-ranching industry [more inside]
"Where are they?" Interactive Fiction on Civilizations
Epitaph, a game about the Fermi Paradox -- Given the likelihood of other forms of life, why don't we find them? Part of the September 2016 Fermi Paradox Jam, Epitaph lets you act as a guiding hand for burgeoning civilizations discovered. The rarity of a planet's survival to the technological level needed for interstellar communication becomes apparent. Over time, failed civilizations fade away... [more inside]
Pudú something to me
The size of a very large cat or very small dog, the rare pudú is the tiniest, and thus most squeeful, deer in the world. (For scale, here is one being hand fed.) They love to frolic and have even inspired heavy metal musicians, but at the end of the day they kiss their mom and go to sleep in a flower pot.
a seasonal "science fair on steroids"
High Tech Pumpkins - Wired brings you a entries from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's pumpkin carving contest. Aaron Yazzie has posted more NASA pumpkin pics at Twitter.
And the Father Of The Year Award goes to…
Joshua Hoffine brings his children's nightmares to life in a new book and gives them motion in his first short film, Black Lullaby. (previously) [more inside]
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