July 2, 2017
Proof that Americans are lying about their sexual desires
"Many people don’t try to date the people they’re most attracted to. They try to date the people they think would impress their friends."An interview with Everybody Lies author Seth Stephens-Davidowitz regarding what google searches for porn tell us about ourselves(Vox) [more inside]
Ten Recent SF/F Short Stories about Love
"Upgrades" by Barry Charman (Daily Science Fiction, 2/14/2017): "The robots kept their rendezvous, and held hands beneath the bridge. This wasn't supposed to happen, they knew, but only the moon could see them, and it wouldn't tell." [more inside]
In Order to form a more perfect Union
America, Meet America: Getting Past Our Toxic Partisanship (Amanda Ripley/WSJ)
Bringing back U.S. exchange programs could help remind citizens what we all have in commonThey've never gone away (NSE is going strong), but in light of partisanship and cultural divides, the need and desire for common understanding and purpose has increased. AFS-USA is gauging interest in restarting their domestic exchange program, while new exchanges like the Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange address cultural issues on different scales. [more inside]
On Cultivating a Personal Microculture, and the Complications Thereof
Author William Gibson describes learning to write fiction as a matter of "a matter of a personal micro-culture." But developing a personal identity in such a piecemeal way has its challenges, writes Timothy Ray in "Rolling Your Own Culture and (Not) Finding Community," an essay for Ribbonfarm. "As cultures become atomized or nonexistent, our languages for communicating meaning to one another, for crafting meaning together, have a shrinking shared vocabulary....The more carefully you’ve planned your life, the fewer people you’ll find to plan it with."
Here, I uploaded a bunch of free maps for you. Wooo!
National Parks Maps - 1,704 of them. Free to download! The National Park Service publishes tons of great free maps; Matt Holly has collected them all for you. On his website NPMaps you’ll find hundreds of PDF and image files of any U.S. national park map; you can view all parks alphabetically and sort by state. [more inside]
Hey there, Sparky!
Some of China's Class J2 Mikado (2-8-2) steam locomotives are working out their last days hauling coal out of the Sandaoling mine in Xinjiang province. As is too often the case, minimal or nonexistent maintenance bring additional woes. Especially obvious to a trackside observer is what happens when the spark arrestors wear out and aren't replaced. Behold the volcano locomotives of the mine. (Jump to 2:45 if you're the impatient sort)
When the Smithsonian came to you!
The bicentennial was a helluva party. The American Freedom Train, toured the country in 1975–76 to commemorate the United States Bicentenniali. The 26-car train was powered by three newly restored steam locomotives. The first to pull the train was former Reading Company T-1 class 4-8-4 #2101. The second was former Southern Pacific 4449, a large 4-8-4 steam locomotive that is still operating in special excursion service today. The third was former Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 #610, which pulled the train in Texas.
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Our sense is such/That, spider-like, we feel the tenderest touch
Phidippus and Hyllus are genera in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders). Phidippus Adumbratus is endearingly cute and can be puppy-like [percussive new age audio], to the point of being pettable [birdsong] (previously).
Hyllus Giganteus, the largest member of its genus, is more daunting [tense music] but every bit [quiet speech] as adorable [just mute the audio, trust me].
Through the looking glass.
US: Wow, our politics is bonkers right now! UK: Wanna bet? Brazil: Hold my caipirinha.
Brazil Needs to Look Beyond Scandal Reform is the only way to clean up government.
Charged with corruption, Brazil’s president could be saved by politicians also under suspicion.
In Brazil's crooked political game, is anybody playing fair? A search for an honest political player.
Brazil Needs to Look Beyond Scandal Reform is the only way to clean up government.
Charged with corruption, Brazil’s president could be saved by politicians also under suspicion.
In Brazil's crooked political game, is anybody playing fair? A search for an honest political player.
Three decades of News of the Weird is enough
Chuck Shepherd has announced that this is his final weekly column. News of the Weird is an astonishing, improbable, delightful and inspiring list of odd news from around the world. Published since 1988, first in alternative newsweeklies, this list often features stories from Chuck's home state of Florida, for some reason. Well sourced and beautifully presented, this original Weird News source will be greatly missed.
Stay outside the circle? You'll die. Go inside the circle? Probably die.
Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (aka PUBG aka Plunkbat aka PUBaGr) is a 100 person shooter evoking Battle Royale/Hunger Games last-person-standing mechanics but without the narrative framing, newest and biggest in a recent genre explosion. You and 99 other people parachute onto an island, and try to find weapons and armor and misc. gear while struggling to keep within the bounds of an increasingly claustrophobic circle. It can be rather goofy, even before you add McEllroys. [more inside]
My body is a cage of my own making
Pro tip: rock-paper-scissors equals sword-ax-lance.
Fire Emblem: The History and The Resonance [YouTube] “EPN Films and Nintendo worked together to create a cool mini-documentary about one of the longest running series in videogames: Fire Emblem! Take a trip through time and around the world as Victor Lucas and his guests, Johnny Millennium from the Happy Console Gamer show, and Nintendo's Andrew Collins dive deep into this venerable franchise.” [more inside]
Free Language Resources
Language Links Database - a collection of links to free online study resources for many languages of the world.
Paleophilatelie
paleophilatelie.eu is an online collection of philatelic material (stamps, covers, post cards, postmarks etc.) depicting prehistoric animals, plants, fossils, dinosaurs, human ancestors, paleontologists, museums with significant paleontological collections, etc. Does what it says on the cover ...
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