August 18, 2021
The Girl Who Lived
Molly tried her best. When Harry had told them, Arthur had asked excitedly, "is this a Muggle thing?" and Hermione had hurried out a "no!" and a frantic history of gender diversity in the wizarding world.
"It's just that I'm a girl," Harry had said. and Arthur had nodded and asked her about how telephone booths worked. He would call her by the right pronouns until the day he died at the respectable old age of one hundred and thirty three, and he would make it seem easy.
"It's just that I'm a girl," Harry had said. and Arthur had nodded and asked her about how telephone booths worked. He would call her by the right pronouns until the day he died at the respectable old age of one hundred and thirty three, and he would make it seem easy.
Worth it for the fashion alone
Chocolate Box Art
Sure, maybe the Candy Wrapper Museum includes a McVitie's Penguin. But does it have an extraordinarily rare Cadbury Chocolate Box, illustrated by Arthur Rackham in 1933? Please enjoy the story of Luxury assortment: the British artists behind Cadbury's chocolate boxes.
Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts of Traal
The hide and seek skills of a two year old. (SL to a long and silly twitter image thread.)
Canadian companies quietly made sure CEOs still got their bonuses
"Millions of working Canadians saw their incomes devastated by the pandemic — but according to a new report, dozens of top executives saw their bonus formulas tweaked to make sure they didn’t suffer alongside the rank and file." (Archive link)
#BamaRush, Explained
Panhellenic organizations discourage freshmen from sharing specifics on social media about their recruitment experience ... but showing off outfits for rush is just fine. "So, what does it take to get into one of these sororities? It did not formally desegregate until 2013, after the student newspaper reported that Black freshmen were still being denied bids during that year’s recruitment process. Since then, diversity among the chapters has increased, though not by much ... another barrier to sorority membership at Bama (and many, many other schools) is cost."
Simpson's Paradox
If you look at Covid data from Israel across all ages, vaccine efficacy against severe disease is 67.5%. But if you break it down by age it turns out to be significantly higher: for those under 50 it's 91.8%, and those over 50 it's 85.2%. What's going on? "Simpson’s paradox arises when there are 'lurking variables' that split data into multiple separate distributions." [more inside]
These People Who Work From Home Have a Secret: They Have Two Jobs
“It’s 100% overwhelming, and my wife’s like, ‘How long can you do this?’ ” he says. But “every other Friday, when those paychecks drop, I am reinvigorated.” Holding two jobs isn’t illegal, says Richard Greenberg, an employment attorney with Jackson Lewis PC in New York.
“It’s more of a contract issue. You’re jeopardizing your employment. There’s very few things that rise to criminal violations,” he says. [more inside]
Socialism for Me But Not for Thee
The founder of socialist magazine Current Affairs, Nathan J. Robinson, has fired most of the staff for trying to start a worker co-op.
Mash Up Stir It Up MIX IT
NPR's 50 best SF and Fantasy books of the decade
Let's find something new to read! NPR assembled a list of the best Science Fiction and Fantasy books of the last decade. See anything you like?
Sean Lock (1963 - 2021)
English comedian Sean Lock has died of cancer at age 58. A stand up comedian and mainstay of British panel shows, he was also the winner of Carrot in a Box, and the Carrot in a Box Rematch.
The Challenge With Most Books is Getting Anyone to Read Them
For years, a mysterious figure has been stealing books before their release. Is it espionage? Revenge? Or a complete waste of time? ... “If you try to find financial and economic gain, it’s of course hard to see,” said Daniel Sandstrom, the literary director of a Swedish publisher hit many times by the thief. “But if the game is psychological, a kind of mastery or feeling of superiority, it’s easier to visualize. This is a business full of resentment as well, and in that sense, it becomes a good story.” from The Spine Collector by Reeves Wiedeman
Back to School in a Pandemic
I am once again sending my kids to school in the middle of a pandemic. We live in Iowa, a state that passed a law preventing schools from mandating masks. I don’t know the vaccination status of my kids’ teachers. Cases in Iowa are rising, and they are almost as bad as they were last August when school started. The state has a 50 percent vaccination rate. And in my county there is a 55 percent vaccination rate. Right now, the positivity rate in Linn County is 15 percent. Lyz Lenz writes about the powerlessness of parenting (not just during a pandemic) in the latest Men Yell at Me. [more inside]
Downhill biking on an “Beyond Expert” trail in BC (SLYT)
« Previous day | Next day »