November 1, 2019
A Very Vangelis November
For Those About to Rock
He needed a gender-affirming procedure. The hospital said no.
As rural hospitals shutter, and faith-based care grows, “religious refusals” are leaving some patients without options. In the summer of 2016, Evan Minton was preparing for his scheduled hysterectomy at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael, California, just outside Sacramento. The procedure, part of his gender-affirming care, should have been routine. But the day before, the hospital abruptly canceled his surgery; the hospital was Catholic, and a procedure that results in sterilization is a violation of the Ethical and Religious Directives that, with rare exceptions, govern Catholic hospitals. Minton had experienced what’s known as “religious refusal,” a growing — and divisive — phenomenon in which health care is denied on the basis of religious beliefs. [more inside]
What's going on with the Notre Dame restoration?
Notre Dame cathedral fire could ease France's shortage of artisans
"I had been playing with the idea for a while, but the fire was the final straw that convinced me to become a stonemason" [more inside]
"I had been playing with the idea for a while, but the fire was the final straw that convinced me to become a stonemason" [more inside]
“Damn all publishers...”
Doris Lessing correspondence deepens insight into The Grass is Singing by Harry Ransom Center I spent a month at the Ransom Center last year, working mainly with the extensive Doris Lessing archive. It is a wonderfully diverse selection of materials from across her career, and an almost complete collection of her typescripts from the 1970s to 1999. I found three references to Lessing in the Knopf collection. The first two were mundane letters related to the editorial processes for two of her novels. The third related to The Grass is Singing, Lessing’s first novel, which was published in 1950—but not by Knopf. Lessing recounts why in the second volume of her autobiography, Walking in the Shade: [more inside]
a unique case of predator-prey role reversal
Amphibians, such as frogs, typically prey on insects including ground beetles and their larvae. The Epomis larva has impressive double-hooked mandibles that look like they came right out of a horror movie. It waves them around along with its antennae until the movement attracts a hungry amphibian, which approaches quickly and tries to eat the larva. In a surprising turn of events, the larva is able to dodge the predator’s attack only to leap on the unsuspecting amphibian and sink its jaws into its flesh. These larvae begin by sucking blood from the wound and eventually consume the frog altogether.
Un altar de sonido para el Día de Muertos para este año, y seis más
It's that time of year, when NPR's Alt.Latino constructs an audio ofrenda, full of pan de muerto (Mexico in my Kitchen), papel picado (Mexican Folk Art Guide), melodic treats for the departed, to guide them back to this world so we may celebrate with them. Alt.Latino's Sonic Altar For Día De Los Muertos, 2019. Prior years: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014, 2013 (hosted by Felix Contreras, except for 2015 and 2013, which were hosted by Jasmine Garsd).
it's not literally just famous CGI green monsters
Shrek does a good job at the dog show. Mike Wazowski rides a pony. Many more sundry weird edits from @chanbanhi on twitter.
SeaLanguage
“In a handbook,” he explains, “there has to be a single name, because it’s useful. But no name is more appropriate than another. Birds have different names depending on when they are seen, how old they are, where they are found. There is no correct name, only many names.” An anthropologist in the Faroe Islands: "what is at stake in practices of naming is a habit of paying attention to the environment, premised not on lexical expertise or ideas of knowledge but on a singular hedonism of taking pleasure in the thing named." [more inside]
"When I am sick, I eat Spaghettios. I know. But it makes me feel better"
What Makes Good Comfort Food? (LitHub) A conversation with writers Mira Jacob, Maile Meloy, Emily Raboteau, and Diana Abu-Jaber.
You rang?
The Wrong Goodbye
This is a pretty severe case of mistaken identity. But it happens more often then you’d think.
Pro Publica writes about Freddy Williams and Raheme Perry.
Elizabeth Warren proposes how she will pay for Medicare for All
She has a plan to pay for Medicare for All, with no new taxes on the middle-class. Elizabeth Warren plans to pay for Medicare for All with a mix of taxes on the rich, and having corporations/businesses switch over the premiums they're paying now for health insurance to funding Medicare. Do the numbers add up? [more inside]
Blood From A Stone
“ Financialisation, Blakeley convincingly argues, is the unique way in which capital responded to the crisis of the 1970’s, and the order on which its power has been built ever since. By increasing the “role of financial motives, financial markets, financial actors and financial institutions,” capital reengineered the economic system to run on a bubble of debt.” Socialism or barbarism: a review of 'Stolen' by Grace Blakeley (Open Democracy) “ The economic malaise we have experienced since the crash – characterised by stagnant wages, falling investment, the growth of international monopolies, rising consumer debt and huge increases in inequality – simply represents a deepening of trends visible before it.” Class politics is reemerging in response to the huge inequality caused by the 2008 crash, Grace Blakeley (Guardian) The next crash: why the world is unprepared for the economic dangers ahead (New Statesmen) Trashfuture Podcast interview with Grace Blakeley. (1:03:00)
Josh Sundquist, Halloween enthusiast
A Pixar lamp, a flamingo, a Xmas tree and more. Josh Sundquist is a paralympian, a motivational speaker, but more importantly, a man with great Halloween costume ideas. Previously on mefi: 1, 2.
1979-1983: A very abbreviated musical history
The Hood Internet presents 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1983; concluding a series of 5 3-minute mashups, featuring 50+ songs from each year. [more inside]
Halloween Night's Alright (For Fighting)
Hong Kong’s Halloween masquerade protest: 'It's our freedom to wear masks' — Al Jazeera News, Hong Kong, China, 10/31/2019 - Carrie Lam turned Joker. Xi Jinping turned Winnie the Pooh. Other politicians turned devils. On Thursday night, Hong Kong protesters revelled in irreverence as they marched in a city-wide Halloween masquerade, dressing up in defaced masks of unpopular leaders in spite of the city's controversial mask ban. [WaPo report, Reuters pictures, videos].
Why you need a physicist on staff
Electric utility New Brunswick Power paid Florida company Joi Scientific CAD$13 million to license a technology that claims it can generate hydrogen gas from sea water for a net 200 per cent electrical efficiency. But this past summer, after the roll-out date for a demonstration unit had been pushed back two years to 2020, Joi Scientific CEO Traver Kennedy revealed to shareholders that Joi had been calculating power incorrectly, and the technology in fact has "poor system efficiencies". They were, of course, warned that "Joi's claim that it can get more energy out of its secret hydrogen process than it puts in — a process the company itself has called "magic" — is too good to be true."
dingo delivery
Eagle drops rare dingo into Australian back yard. (cute fluffy dingo puppy pics included) [more inside]
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