July 13, 2016
most costly and financially most risky type of mega-project
The Oxford Olympics Study 2016: Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games. Just in time for Rio, a trio of scholars led by Bent Flyvbjerg have published their findings on cost data for both Summer and Winter Games, starting with the Rome 1960 Summer and Squaw Valley 1960 Winter Games, and continuing until the Sochi 2014 Winter and Rio 2016 Summer Games. The average cost of putting on the Olympics? US$ 8.9 billion dollars. [more inside]
Let's play Global Thermonuclear War: lasting impacts of WarGames
If, after the media dubbed Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (YT video, Wikipedia) as "Star Wars" (transcript) in 1983, you might quesiton his concerns triggered from another movie mere months later. But after watching WarGames, he was informed that "the problem is much worse than you think." WarGames was that accurate thanks in part to input in the script from an engineer named Willis Ware, who had concerns about network security (PDF) for decades before the movie. Reagan's fears lead to the first cybersecurity directive from any U.S. President and the first concerns about the NSA's potential role in "data base oversight" (Google books preview), as well as an attempt to regulate teenagers and teenaged technology (Gbp) that impacts US internet use to this day. And then there was the USSR computer program that nearly triggered WWIII. What a year. [more inside]
Just don't take Bill Hader's date movie advice
In which the Criterion Collection invites actores and directors to choose some flicks Including Michael "extremely highbrow" Cera, Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn, Guy Maddin, and Edgar Wright. [more inside]
"It has to stop. Enough. Enough is enough."
"Generations ago, legends like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Brown, Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe and countless others, they set a model for what athletes should stand for. So we choose to follow in their footsteps." In the wake of the violence this week in St. Paul, Dallas, and Baton Rouge, a quartet of NBA stars (Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James) open the 2016 ESPYS with a call to action. (SLESPN)
Bulldogs on skateboards
Harley the bulldog almost wipes out but saves it as usual. (Bonus: Harley's highlights) [more inside]
Know your rights (filming the police edition)
"What do you say to a police officer who tells you to stop when you are legally and not obstructively filming their interactions?" [more inside]
We can only go up from here
The South Pole Traverse is a 1600km long, compacted snow road connecting the McMurdo and Amundsen–Scott stations. [more inside]
"Abandoned buildings of almost inhuman complexity"
"Power and Architecture" is the name of the Calvert 22 Foundation's "season on utopian public space and the quest for new national identities across the post-Soviet world." Included in the "curated digital content" being published as part of the season is "Restricted Areas," a series by Russian photographer Danila Tkachenko, who photographs "abandoned buildings of almost inhuman complexity.” [more inside]
SCOTUS decisions database, 1791-2015
The Supreme Court Database is a comprehensive, Creative Commons-licensed database of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, broken down by justices, issues, votes, and numerous other variables. Yesterday marked the newest release, including comprehensive coverage from 1791 through the recently concluded 2015 term. [via mefi projects] [more inside]
all i've got is a photograph
Where's my jetpack?
42 Visions For Tomorrow From The Golden Age of Futurism — selected panels from Arthur Radebaugh's late 1950s-early 60s newspaper comic strip Closer Than We Think. [more inside]
"Something was on the front of her head—either glasses or a nose."
Behold Your Newest Silver-Screen Sex Goddess, Jane Neighbor
Neighbor is twenty-eight and twenty-two, at once. She is a kind of gorgeous that can only be found in or very near rivers. She is blonde but also blond, depending on the spelling. She is tall when she is on a ladder, and medium-tall when she is halfway up the ladder. Her eyelashes spell “glory.” Her naked hands can open wet jars, with just the strength of her slender fingers. She can be sexy and pointy and things that aren’t even adjectives, like glossary, or aren’t even words, like hilabrion. Her voice sounds like a truck full of rain. — Rachel Axler, The New Yorker
Well, he got away with it...
The FBI has officially given up on trying to figure out what happened to "Dan Cooper" (a.k.a. "D.B. Cooper"), ending the investigation after 16,303 days. [more inside]
[W]e live in an age when women are supposed to perform pregnancy.
In a recent interview with Financial Times, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie nonchalantly mentioned her new child. She hadn't made it public (or even told all of her friends) because she refuses to "perform pregnancy." [more inside]
I'm not sure his this happens, only that it does.
The Forbidden Words Of Margaret A. is a science fiction story by L. Timmel Duchamp, first published in 1990, describing a journalist's heavily-vetted meeting with a woman whose words have been declared illegal by the American government. [more inside]
The Amazing Mr. Mullen
Skateboarding legend Rodney Mullen has released "Liminal," his first video in over a decade, scored by George Harrison's son Dhani Harrison. Rolling Stone interview. Previously.
"First thing you need to know about this world is - no, not dragons."
Yeah, stay away from me, bear ...
"we are the ones in whose name other people are oppressed."
Marika Rose writes The White Christian’s Burden - "So: we have sinned, we can’t save ourselves, and the gospel isn’t such good news after all. I hope you’re excited!"
BREAKING NEWS
Cat is going to get booped on the nose [SLTumblr]
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