August 28, 2017
Provided you accept all the formalities and realize his authority.
Kot Blini (Кот Блини) Literary Analysis (English subtitles). Take a 1:49 break to give a picture of cat with a plate of blinis exactly the amount of contemplation it deserves. [more inside]
This was important to her.
It’s true: Sally Hemings was, by law, Thomas Jefferson’s property. But she was also a human being. Contingency, which historians know is always in operation, plays a crucial role in human affairs, and it did so in the way the law of property shaped Hemings’s story. Enigmatic as she may be, Hemings had a vision of her life and self that she imparted to her family. Her vision should always matter when we write about her. Law was pivotal to Hemings’s understanding of her life. She knew its power.
Heffalumps and oliphants
Uli Westphal is a German artist who studies how humans perceive, depict and transform the natural world. In Elephas Anthropogenus, he traces (sometimes quite literally) how European illustrators who'd never seen an elephant reconstructed oral and written histories of what elephants looked like from C.E. 900-1765. All elephants are magnificent, but some elephants are more magnificent than others.
Also available as Totchos!
This is how we do it down in Puerto Rico
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About ‘Despacito’ - Ethnomusicologist Wayne Marshall explains the "Despacito" phenomenon from a musical, cultural, and historical perspective at The Vulture. [more inside]
Fantasy maps: threat or menace?
Thesis: Maps in fantasy books are kinda shite. Antithesis: They're good actually, when done right. Synthesis: N. K. Jemisin gets it right.
Out of Action
Still, what has protest done for us lately? Smartphones and social media are supposed to have made organizing easier, and activists today speak more about numbers and reach than about lasting results. Is protest a productive use of our political attention? Or is it just a bit of social theatre we perform to make ourselves feel virtuous, useful, and in the right? For The New Yorker Nathan Heller writes 4800 words on the history of contemporary U.S. political protesting. [more inside]
There's nothing I hate more than an alien with no respect for history...
Catch Up On Destiny's Entire Story With This 90-Minute Video [YouTube] [1:31:12] “As we bid farewell to Destiny, a video game renowned for its storytelling prowess, let’s take the time to catch up on the plot so far. This feature-length video, by YouTuber My Name Is Byf, is possibly the best Destiny lore explainer you’ll ever watch. Even if you’ve paid attention to Destiny’s lore over the past three years, this video is full of juicy details about how Bungie’s universe functions, from the early days of the Iron Lords to the invasion of Ghaul that sets up Destiny 2 (out next week for PS4/Xbox One, with a PC release to follow in October). Imagine if the actual game had told its story this well!” [via: Kotaku] [Previously.] [more inside]
Toys, Game Electronics, Bread Makers and Composters
Blimey! Beyond Buckinghamshire bacon badgers: British bites...
Back in crisp sandwich land, where Quidditch is real and sports stars eat real meals, foods are thrown or combined in imaginative ways. While quinoa burgers are out, Brits are undecided about ketchup on pizza and we've previously had the British burrito (Yorkshire pud around beef), there's bouquets for loved ones (except for Mary Berry's nation-dividing bolognese) or red pudding or meats for protein lovers, or pasty barms for northerners (don't forget side salad or a whole lemon for nutrition). Perhaps smother with Dan's Marmite hollandaise and wash it down with Cornish clotted cream gin? If you missed unclothed dining out, then go and eat at the library or have afternoon tea somewhere or a medieval banquet. And in Glasgow, Mister Singh is launching the avocado pakora. [post title]
The Lévy Walk, How many creatures scam up meals...
If you find yourself wandering, foraging, sightseeing, join the crowd South African Bushmen lived, (and some still do,) of a seventeen hour work week, spent in a walking pattern called the Levy Walk. Named after French mathematician Paul Levy, a Levy Walk is characterized by many small moves combined with a few longer trajectories. Evidence of Lévy walks has been found in the way humans wander University Campuses, urban areas, and Disney world. Here is a more detailed Here is the scholarly discussion of the flight of fireflies. [more inside]
a.k.a. Hoover chicken
David McCowan of the AV Club's Supper Club asks "Why have Americans stopped eating turtle?"
If you think this Universe is bad, you should see some of the others
Ahead of a new UK C4 anthology series Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, three novelists -
Nicola Barker, Michael Moorcock and Adam Roberts - pick their favourite works
Gone With The Wind Gone With The Wind
‘Gone With The Wind’ Pulled From Memphis Theatre After Being Considered “Insensitive” - - winner of eight Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actress to Hattie McDaniel, the first black actor to win an Oscar - - Gone With The Wind has been dropped from the Orpheum Theatre's schedule following numerous complaints.
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