November 3, 2022
Bringing Humans into the water cycle
Bringing Humans into the water cycle [via mefi projects, where you can learn more about the project]
Rachel Aviv at the height of her powers
artist, blogger, grandson
"I spent the last couple weeks finally tackling a project I've put off for years: finishing a stained glass menorah project my grandfather started decades ago and left incomplete when he died." -- by Metafilter's own Josh Millard. (Related Twitter thread)
[via mefi projects]
"You up for listening to a bit of music?"
Producer Rick Rubin and former Beatle Paul McCartney listen to isolated tracks for a classic recording. (SLYT)
To a Nacreon in Heaven
In Norse mythology, the earthly realm of Midgard and the divine plane of Asgard are connected by a shimmering rainbow bridge -- the magnificent Bifröst. Though scholars debate whether the legend of this lustrous path was inspired by the famed aurora borealis or the star-studded arc of the Milky Way, there is perhaps another possible candidate: nacreous clouds [timelapse]. Also known as polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), these breathtaking formations can be seen (quite rarely) in the high polar latitudes in wintertime at dusk, when a mass of super-cooled water ice forms so high up in the stratosphere that it reflects light from a sun that's well below the horizon at ground level. The result: diaphonous pearl-white sheets and iridescent streaks that light up the bleak twilight landscape with an otherworldly glow. (It's not all sunshine and stratospheric rainbows, though -- when mixed with nitric or sulfuric acid, these 10-15 mile-high clouds can contribute to ozone depletion over the polar caps [video].) Not a fan of winter weather? You may chance to see their more temperate cousin, the spectral and blue-tinged noctilucent cloud, which sometimes forms in summertime months north of 50° latitude (and north of 50 miles straight up). Or if you live near a space coast, you might see one of a menagerie of "twilight phenomenon" -- artificial light-clouds formed by multi-stage rocket plumes backlit by the sun -- including the spectacular space jellyfish. Just make sure to keep your eyes on the road... [more inside]
Bobtail squids can ooze glue from their skin.
A squid biologist takes to the streets — and Skype — to share scientific knowledge. Squid biologist Sarah Mcanulty (@sarahmackattack) runs the Squid Facts hotline and recently hosted #Squidtember (with lots of delightful illustrations by Natalie Metzger aka The Fuzzy Slug.) Want a squid fact? Text "OH YEAH!" to 1-833-SCI-TEXT
That's a Long, Long, Long Learning Curve
"something extratextual was always going to be conveyed"
Maya.land is one of those idiosyncratic personal websites with, for example, a page about heraldry and the Internet. ("Heraldry scales nicely down to avatars.") Maya most recently posted about choosing a new font. "...a lot of what we think we’re perceiving in an artwork or Thing is the part that can be flawlessly reproduced, but the way our minds grab onto it is all about its aura – the origin, the context, the situatedness that a mechanical reproduction wouldn’t duplicate."
On cutting toxic, clingy people out of your life
Describes ending contact with people who want contact, but use contact for emotional abuse. Various phases, pleading, threat, etc.-- and the infuriating third parties who insist that your should maintain contact or forgive. [more inside]
Notwithstanding your right to strike
The Ontario government is preparing to use the notwithstanding clause - "a magical section of the Canadian constitution that allows provincial governments to simply ignore... the fundamental freedoms and legal rights of Canadian citizens" - to force the lowest paid education workers who have fallen furthest behind inflation to stay on the job. The union has vowed to strike anyway, starting Friday, despite the threat of daily fines of $4,000 for each worker and $500,000 for the union. [more inside]
Rolling rolling rolling
In the early years of the 20th century, pioneering inventors began the quest to fulfill humankind's greatest transport dream: motorized roller skates. Some used a V-twin engine, 2-stroke lawnmower engine,
drills,
jetpack or segway but could the future be an electric moonwalk?
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