July 29, 2018
1988
30 years ago, a look back at 1988 Where were you in 1988? Some remarkable news stories and memories from 30 years ago.
Dogs stealing GoPro cameras
“Observing the boarding gate area from afar“
Welcome to the Quiet Skies: Federal air marshals have begun following ordinary US citizens not suspected of a crime or on any terrorist watch list and collecting extensive information about their movements and behavior under a new domestic surveillance program that is drawing criticism from within the agency. Under “Quiet Skies” thousands of unsuspecting Americans have been subjected to targeted airport and inflight surveillance, carried out by small teams of armed, undercover air marshals, government documents show. The teams document whether passengers fidget, use a computer, have a “jump” in their Adam’s apple or a “cold penetrating stare,” among other behaviors, according to the records. Air marshals note these observations — minute-by-minute — in two separate reports and send this information back to the TSA. [more inside]
👻👻👻
In 1978 Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry established the encoding that would later be known as JIS X 0208, which still serves as an important reference for all Japanese encodings. However, after the JIS standard was released people noticed something strange - several of the added characters had no obvious sources, and nobody could tell what they meant or how they should be pronounced. Nobody was sure where they came from. These are what came to be known as the ghost characters (幽霊文字). [more inside]
Visualize sugarplum fairies dancing on your screen
Ramin Nasibov, a designer and art director with an interesting and quirky Twitter feed, tweeted this short (2:12) animated graphic score/musical visualization of Tchaikovsky's "Dance Of The Sugarplum Fairy that was created by Doodle Chaos."
Remembering Maria L. de Hernandez: community and rights activist
Today would be the 122nd birthday of María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández, a Mexican-American rights activist who is considered one of the most important leaders of the Tejano community starting in the 1920s (Google books preview). She formed and lead organizations through the 1970s that were dedicated to civic and political activities to benefit Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants, focusing on education, and the rights of women and workers. [more inside]
All queens must die
There was but one invasive animal remaining, the toughest and hardiest creature of them all. For years, no one had figured out how to kill it. For half a century, no one even knew it was there. But it was, in the millions. And now the conservationists turned to face their most tenacious foe: the Argentine ant.
A literal and metaphorical autumn suddenly arrives in Albion
After an endlessly dry and hot summer (how people coped), stressing diners and hospitals and crops and disrupting trains, the tube and the Channel tunnel, with wildfires caused by barbeques and (insanely) airborne fire lanterns, some lightning and much-needed rain finally hit the UK. The infrastructure immediately failed. Music festivals (Tom Jones!) were disrupted, flooding occurred, flights and trains were cancelled, roads became impassable. The clouds arrived on cue to hide the Blood Moon while reservoir levels, even in Scotland, continue to be low. Farming reaches crisis point, but there's always imports. As usual, Brits queued for freebies, were advised to chill their sex toys, and politicians went abroad. [previously]
"A perfect example of combinatorial explosion."
How I created a database of all interesting Rush Hour configurations — Rush Hour is a 6x6 sliding block puzzle invented by Nob Yoshigahara in the 1970s. It was first sold in the United States in 1996 ... Ultimately I ended up with a complete database of every "interesting" starting position. It was quite challenging (and exciting!) and that's what I want to talk about in this article. My code is open source with a permissive license and the resulting database is available for download. And happiest of all, you can play the puzzles in an excellent browser-based implementation.
Men of Steel
This post will self-destruct in ten seconds.
‘Mission: Impossible’ Is the Best Movie Franchise—Here’s Why [The Ringer] “In this time of expanding cinematic universes, rapidly adapted intellectual property, and the ever-gaping maw awaiting time-killing content, we rank. We rank, therefore we are. Fortunately, the Mission: Impossible movies are worthy of the form, because each entry indicates a shift or improvement in moviemaking strategy and franchise storytelling. It codified—and then broke—the “One Director’s Vision” concept that has become so prevalent in the Marvel canon. It’s a long-running but not urgent property; when a new one arrives, it’s less a consequential continuation of mythology than it is a fun diversion. The stunts are real and the stakes are massive, but the end game is modest: Just wow us.” [more inside]
Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
How Poverty Changes the Brain
(SLAtlantic 2017) When a person lives in poverty, a growing body of research suggests the limbic system is constantly sending fear and stress messages to the prefrontal cortex, which overloads its ability to solve problems, set goals, and complete tasks in the most efficient ways. ... After years of coaching adults and watching those benefits trickle down to children, EMPath has brought children into the center of its model—offering a way out of intergenerational poverty with brain science. [more inside]
The amazing world of gumbo
Let's start with the biggest red herring of all, the oft-repeated idea that gumbo is a variation of bouillabaisse, the classic fish stew from Provence. This notion is repeated everywhere from slapdash food blogs to peer-reviewed academic books. It's also completely wrong.For Serious Eats Robert Moss writes about the origins of gumbo. [more inside]
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