June 7, 2023
Female crocodile that lived alone for 16 years had a virgin birth
Female crocodile that lived alone for 16 years had a virgin birth. An American crocodile managed to reproduce by herself, in a process scientists call parthenogenesis, or virgin birth, DNA reveals. Scientists say the discovery suggests the phenomenon may have also occurred in extinct reptiles like dinosaurs.
Face-eating leopard eats own face, burps.
Revenge served ice cold. Top L.A. law firm outs former partners’ racist, sexist emails. Last month, Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard and Smith, one of the nation’s largest law firms, was rocked by the announcement that two top partners who ran their labor and employment practice, defending corporations against harassment and discrimination lawsuits, were starting their own boutique practice and taking as many as 140 colleagues with them. The shock inside the’ downtown Los Angeles headquarters soon gave way to anger as the recently departed partners embarked on a press campaign that portrayed their former employer as a profit-focused legal mill that ground down the aspirations of its lawyers. In an extraordinary move, the law firm's management team directed the release of scores of emails in which Barber and Ranen used vile terms for women, Black people, Armenians, Persians, and gay men and traded in offensive stereotypes of Jews and Asians. [more inside]
And all the kings horses and all the kings horses penises
Kingly is a webcomic abougt a very sweet king. if Prince Valient met Hagar the Horrible but was actually funny and with more genitals.
100+ Years of Yuri
Okazu is the internet's longest-running blog devoted to the study and review of yuri, a genre of manga and anime featuring romances between women and girls. Run by noted yuri expert and historian Erica Friedman, Okazu features loads of reviews ranging from recent series to untranslated classics. There are also essays galore. And if you're new to yuri, you can also find recommendations on where to start.
It's a webcomic about ice hockey, not waiting tables.
Today is the tenth anniversary of Check, Please!, a completed webcomic by Ngozi Ukazu about Canadian university ice hockey, friendship, anxiety, love and pie. Available in print thanks to a series of wildly successful kickstarter campaigns, it nevertheless remains fully readable online for readers who like joy. [more inside]
"A counterexample to established techno-utopian histories"
RESPECT THE LEGEND FOREVER
Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, a.k.a. The Iron Sheik, one of the most hated villains in professional wrestling history, has died at the age of 81 according to his official Twitter account, where he had enjoyed a second career of rants and insults. [more inside]
Stay inside and reduce your exposure.
What to know about the Canadian wildfires affecting parts of the U.S. [The Washington Post] [Gift article] “Uncontrollable flames are ravaging swaths of Canadian forest in what authorities described as a “devastating” wildfire season that could become the worst the country has ever seen. The United States’ northern neighbor is home to some of the world’s densest forests, and it experiences wildfires every year. But this year, the fires have been particularly widespread, numerous and intense, burning through more than 3.7 million acres in Canada. Canada’s government expects “higher-than-normal fire activity” to continue throughout the wildfire season — which typically lasts between April and September — due to a combination of ongoing drought conditions and hot temperature forecasts. Smoke and haze from the Canadian wildfires has also affected the United States, leading authorities from New York to Minnesota to issue public health alerts and urge people to stay indoors and wear masks to protect themselves from potentially toxic fine particles in the air.” [more inside]
Ice Land
By the 1820s, the cubes that clinked in glasses of iced tea in Charleston, the ice that cooled hospitalized patients in Savannah; the ice that formed ice cream in the White House during the hottest months of summer—all of it from New England. Ice was so unusual (and expensive) in the South that locals called it “white gold" ... Ice continued to obsess America. from Is Ice America’s Most Literary Element? by Amy Brady [LitHub] [more inside]
George Winston 1950-2023
Noted "New Age" pianist George Winston passed away this week after fighting cancer for many years. Winston came to prominence in the 1980s as one of the artists recording for the "New Age" Windham Hill label along with performers such as Liz Story, Will Ackerman, and Shadowfax. His albums "Autumn" and "December" were his most popular, and he won Grammys in 1996 and 2004. [more inside]
I was performing at a bar for 15 people and my video hits 500,000 views
Happy Pride Month! I can't say I was familiar with Hayley Kiyoko before the primroses were over mentioned her name, but apparently everyone else knows about her. If, like me, you need a primer, Hayley summarizes her career [15m] for them, with an accompanying article. If you want to get a bit deeper and less formal, Quitters Podcast spent over an hour talking to her about her career and her life and outlook. But the real news is, she just published her first book [Publishers Weekly]! [more inside]
The duet that sort of broke TikTok
Oh what a world it is, that has such musicians in it! There was a piano in a London tube station, so Aurélien Froissart decided to kill time by playing classical music. As one does.
But then something amazing - another musician who was passing through asked if she could jump in. What followed was an incredible and virtually flawless impromptu duet - between strangers, with no planning, no rehearsal, no sheet music. Astonishing.
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