August 23, 2021
Lorde's Third Album
First came the single Solar Power. Next came Stoned At The Nail Salon. Then the full album, Solar Power [43m, track time jumps in the description]. This NYT profile Lorde’s Work Here Is Done. Now, She Vibes. [Archive link] was pretty interesting. NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour discussion Lorde's 'Solar Power' Is A Whole Mood [23m listen, transcript plus audio link] was insightful about the album.
Dance of the p values
"You could play this at parties, develop a dance for the dance of the p values and reflect on how ridiculous it is that p values are right at the centre of our thinking about drawing conclusions from research."
"You waited eight months?"
Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self Part 5 Julie Nolke goes from August 2021 to (presumably) December 2020 to give the news on how vaccination is going and how the Olympics went and Jeff Bezos's penis rocket. [more inside]
When America Had an Atomic Mecha Warrior Robot
“Fix an atomic rocket engine? Clean up spills of radioactivity? Rescue H-bomb victims? That’s what the Beetle is for.” This costly mechanical beast had a single purpose: to service and repair the USAF’s atomic-powered aircraft. Beetle’s specs might seem overkill, especially since it was created to service a vehicle that didn’t yet exist, but that’s not the case. It needed every bit of its power and shielding, especially if the pilot inside wanted to live.
Highly Vaccinated Israel Is Seeing A Dramatic Surge In New COVID Cases.
Half of Israel's seriously ill patients who are currently hospitalized were fully vaccinated at least five months ago. Most of them are over 60 years old and have comorbidities. Experts warn if countries do not vaccinate their populations, more variants will develop, threatening even vaccinated nations.
Give it
Former billionaire Chuck Feeney, who cofounded airport retailer Duty Free Shoppers, anonymously gave away almost his entire net worth. Cited as an inspiration by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates for the Giving Pledge, he recently closed his philanthropic foundation after giving away $8 billion and lives in a small rented apartment in San Francisco.
The Hope
Hatikvah: Conceptions, Receptions and Reflections "Untangling these stories behind the story of Hatikvah is the core of this essay. For Hatikvah both is and is not what you think. It does not derive from Smetana nor from a Sephardic prayer. And an early Zionist pioneer did not compose it spontaneously. Nor did it become the national anthem of the State of Israel until very recently."
welcome to X E N O N
Three Two One LET'S JAM
First photos from Netflix's live-action Cowboy Bebop, with plenty of Spike, Jet, Faye, and even a cameo by Ein. (But where is Ed?)
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