July 21, 2023
Something in space has been lighting up every 20 minutes since 1988
On Wednesday, researchers announced the discovery of a new astronomical enigma. The new object, GPM J1839–10 [...] takes 22 minutes between pulses. [...] The list of known objects that can produce this sort of behavior is short and consists of precisely zero items. John Timmer writes 900 words for Ars Technica.
This possum the size of a human thumb is helping to pollinate flowers
This possum the size of a human thumb is helping to pollinate flowers. The western pygmy possum is notoriously difficult to find in the wild, but researchers have found traces of it in Western Australia's Goldfields using a technique they believe could help tackle biodiversity decline.
Biden Announces First Offshore Wind Lease Sales in Gulf of Mexico
The official press release : "The Department of the Interior announced [yesterday] it will hold the first-ever offshore wind energy lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, advancing the Biden-Harris administration’s work to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030 and reach a carbon-free electricity sector by 2035." [more inside]
Margariforest Cafeville
ICYMI, last year, YouTubers Eddy Burback and Ted Nivision took a road trip. They each issued a report: I ate at every Rainforest Cafe in the Country [Eddy, 36m], I Drove to Every Rainforest Cafe in North America [Ted, 30m]. Well, they've done it again! I ate at every Margaritaville in the Country [Eddy, 58m], I Drove to Every Margaritaville in the USA [Ted, 46m]. Madness comes in many forms, but chain restaurants are often involved. [more inside]
Tunnel Vision: An Unauthorized BART Ride
Vincent Woo snuck and stuck video camera onto the front of a BART train, and filmed the trip. The result (YT) is an hour and a half long video, set to some low-key music interspersed with narration, interviews, and history.
"Fame comes and goes. Longevity's thing to aim for."
Surgeon/activist Dr. Susan Love dies at 75
From the Los Angeles Times: Nearly 300,000 women in the U.S. will receive a diagnosis of invasive breast cancer this year. For many, their first instinct upon hearing the news will be to arm themselves with information, Googling, reading and quizzing their doctors in an effort to understand their illness and the best route to recovery. The fact that there are both a range of treatment options and a wealth of information available to patients with breast cancer is due in part to Dr. Susan Love, the surgeon, researcher, author and activist who died Sunday at home in Los Angeles at the age of 75. The cause was a recurrence of leukemia, with which she was first diagnosed in 2012. [more inside]
“Flowering dogwood trees are bisexual... Like us.”
The “Unhinged Bisexual Woman” Novel is a critical review of the novels Big Swiss and Milk Fed and the hetereo-gaze in certain #sapphicbooks" in the socialist feminist glossy Lux Magazine. Writes Emma Copley Eisenberg: "The queer relationships in these books are plot devices meant not to say anything new about queer love or intimacy but meant rather to pit the bisexual or straight-proximate characters against themselves." Referenced in the article is a more hopeful write-up on the sapphic literature trend in 2022. Eisenberg previously on MeFi.
toxicity persists and worsens in highly competitive games
Despite Advancements, Games Still Aren't Doing Enough To Stop Toxic Voice Chat by Alyssa Mercante [Kotaku] “I started regularly playing competitive online games in 2007, with the launch of Halo 3. Back then, participating in in-game voice chat was harrowing for a 17-year-old girl whose voice betrayed her gender and her youth. I was subjected to such frequent and horrific hostility (rape threats, misogynist remarks, sexually inappropriate comments, you name it) that I eventually started screaming back, a behavior my parents still bring up today. And yet, voice chat is essential in competitive online games, especially modern ones like Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, Fortnite, Valorant, and Overwatch. All of these popular games require extensive amounts of teamwork to succeed, which is bolstered by being able to chat with your teammates. But in-game voice chat remains a scary, toxic place—especially for women. [...] I spoke to several women about their voice chat experiences, as well as reps from some of today’s biggest online games, to get a better understanding of the current landscape.”
The Scottish villagers who defied Donald Trump
Activist and photographer Alicia Bruce has documented the residents and landscape of Menie in Scotland, detailing 16 years of Donald Trump’s impact on the area where he built a golf course. Her work honours the community who have ‘refused to bow down, sell up or be pushed around by Donald Trump’. [more inside]
Fednow service has launched
Global dimming and atmospheric geo engineering, has the time come?
The whitehouse cautiously supports blocking the suns rays The idea has gone from controversial to mainstream, given the scorching weather this summer in much of the northern hemisphere has global dimming's time come?
In 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. Gave Us the Right to Live At Home
Lois Curtis’ legacy lives on in the people with disabilities whose lives she’s transformed Few people outside of the disability community know Lois Curtis' name. But for those whose lives her Supreme Court case touched and transformed, her impact will never be forgotten.
“There is an unapologetic joy and authenticity that shines through in all of the portraits Lois created,” Johnson said. “Artists like Lois inform so much of my work that solely centers on art activism. Uplifting neurodivergent joy and caregiving are important acts of resistance in a society that so often devalues disabled communities.” “I am a person with a vision and a spirit” - Lois Curtis
I Watched Russian Television for Five Days Straight
Gary Shteyngart watches three Russian TV channels for five days straight. [Archive] revisiting his 2014 experiment. "On the one hand, the length of my sentence has been commuted to five days from seven; on the other hand, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the state’s propaganda has become even more loud, brash, and genocidal, making any length of exposure to it psychologically problematic."
"Maybe it's the worst song ever, but it's also a great song"
Todd in the Shadows' One Hit Wonderland retrospective of Aqua's "Barbie Girl"
Derailing the defund
A Perfectly Trippy Ambience
But like a dream, the Mellotron’s time was fleeting. Just as it proliferated in psych-rock, what we know as the modern synthesizer was coming into its own ... As the rest of the world turned to burgeoning digital technology in all other facets of life, the clunky, temperamental Mellotron soon became dated. It popped up every now and then on singles, but the last Mellotrons—due to a copyright dispute, sold under a new name—rolled off the factory floor in 1986. from Tape Heads [more inside]
Legal lullabies
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