August 10, 2021
Liquid Oxygen is Magnetic
And just like the spokes of a wheel you'll spin 'round with the rest
You may know Stan Ridgway from Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio,” his band’s breakout hit from 1983, in which his face appears in a pot of baked beans*. You may know Stan from his collaboration with Stewart Copeland, “Don’t Box Me In,”* on the soundtrack to the 1983 Francis Ford Coppola movie “Rumblefish.” You may know Stan from “Camouflage,” a hit outside the US, from his first solo album.
You want more links? Come on down! [more inside]
Color Your Worlds
Sharpen your Cosmic Latte colored pencil and explore the universe with the Exoplanet Travel Bureau Coloring Book. (Bonus: NASA coloring pages for kids.)
Rat Tickling
Man with a Movie Camera - Spectacular 1929 silent movie by Dziga Vertov
A man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention. (SLYT) "It made explicit and poetic the astonishing gift the cinema made possible, of arranging what we see, ordering it, imposing a rhythm and language on it, and transcending it." ~~ Roger Ebert [more inside]
First new carnivorous plant identified by botanists in 20 years
“What’s particularly unique about this carnivorous plant is that it traps insects near its insect-pollinated flowers,” said lead author Dr. Qianshi Lin, a PhD student at UBC botany. “On the surface, this seems like a conflict between carnivory and pollination because you don’t want to kill the insects that are helping you reproduce.”
"sperm book"
Scientists mail freeze-dried mouse sperm on a postcard (Science Daily): Researchers in Japan have developed a way to freeze dry sperm on a plastic sheet in weighing paper so that samples can withstand being mailed via postcard. This method allows for mouse sperm to be transported easily, inexpensively, and without the risk of glass cases breaking. Sperm-on-a-Postcard Breakthrough Opens Door to Massive 'Sperm Books' (Vice): One of the scientists even sent a festive “Happy New Year” card (image) to a colleague, with mouse sperm as an extra token of good luck. “In addition, since New Year's greeting cards are used to write one's hopes for the next year, we conducted the New Year's greeting card mailing experiment in the hope that it would be a good year, i.e., that we would be able to successfully mail sperm and publish a paper,” [more inside]
animation work that's difficult to match
"overlapping Earths along whose linking axis a person can somehow move"
In 1977 at a science fiction convention in Metz, France, Philip K. Dick delivered a lecture about his concept of orthogonal time titled "If You Find This World Bad You Should See Some of the Others". The audience was described as leaving the auditorium looking like they'd been hit with a hammer. The event was filmed, and you can see the whole thing complete with French interpretation (except for a sentence or two at the end) or a version with the translator cut out (and missing a bit of the intro). Or you can read the longer, unexpurgated essay online. On an episode of their podcast Weird Studies, J. F. Martel and Phil Ford put the lecture in context of Dick's life, and larger currents of thought. Finally, a comparatively normal interview with Dick was filmed in Metz (transcript here).
‘They sent a thank you note and $5,000 – the movie made $1bn’
Marvel and DC face backlash over pay (The Guardian) – As the comics giants make billions from their storylines and characters, writers and artists are speaking out about their struggles for fair payment [more inside]
How 'The Karate Kid' Ruined The Modern World
"We have a vague idea in our head of the "price" of certain accomplishments, how difficult it should be to get a degree, or succeed at a job, or stay in shape, or raise a kid, or build a house. And that vague idea is almost always catastrophically wrong."
Statecraft needs stagecraft. The sites of landmark diplomacy
The Rooms Where It Happened Theatres are physical structures. Creative works – plays, operas, concerts, dance – make their home in them for a brief moment in time. Then they disappear. The building remains, but only memories linger. The spaces in which landmark diplomatic events take place have much in common with theatres. Leaders take center stage and hold the fates of nations in their hands. Yet these public spaces brim over with energy and activity backstage – as well in the spotlights.
"Right here, right now. This is history"
“This is history,” Noel told the crowd… “I thought it was Knebworth,” replied Liam.
On August 10, 1996, Oasis played the first of two shows at Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire, to a combined total of 250,000 people.
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