Posts with Recent Comments
Arguing on the internet - for the forces of good
“Twitter was what made it possible for us to get together,” he said. “And now we’re suing it.” A litigation team built from the sharpest, funniest tweeters is suing Elon Musk.
by John Leland for the New York Times. Includes quotes from metafilter’s own Kathryn Tewson .
Nottingham Wash House 1977
Nottingham Wash House 1977 [SLYT] A short documentary piece about the last public wash-house in the East Midlands (UK).
Belief is not Knowledge
‘Who are you to tell me what to believe?’ replies the zealot. It is a misguided challenge: it implies that certifying one’s beliefs is a matter of someone’s authority. It ignores the role of reality. Believing has what philosophers call a ‘mind-to-world direction of fit’. Our beliefs are intended to reflect the real world – and it is on this point that beliefs can go haywire. There are irresponsible beliefs; more precisely, there are beliefs that are acquired and retained in an irresponsible way. One might disregard evidence; accept gossip, rumour, or testimony from dubious sources; ignore incoherence with one’s other beliefs; embrace wishful thinking; or display a predilection for conspiracy theories. from You don’t have a right to believe whatever you want to [Aeon; ungated]
Reverse Engineering TicketMaster's Rotating Barcodes
"To those who designed this system, I say: Shame. Have fun refactoring your ticket verification system." Brilliant and quite simple reverse engineering of the infamous TicketMaster's Rotating Barcodes. Only need a web inspector, some python script and a shell to break the pseudo secure system. [more inside]
"you internalize that, because someone is looking at you like a threat."
Reclaiming My Palestinian Identity - a 34-min drag video essay performance by Indie Nile, an "Amsterdam Drag Artist" [more inside]
"The photos will be our treasure"
LCBO strike -- it's not just about the booze
How the Liquor Control Board of Ontario makes money for the government. In an ongoing quest to privatize as much as possible in Canada's most populous province, Premier Doug Ford's plan to allow booze in convenience stores has resulted in a strike for LCBO workers across the province. [more inside]
"Competition is for losers"
These new pricing intermediaries are similar to ATPCO, but don’t just act as information exchanges between competitors. They actually set the prices for an entire industry by using machine-learning algorithms and artificial intelligence, which are programmed to maximize profits. To arrive at optimal prices, these software applications aggregate vast amounts of relevant market data, some of which is public and much of which is competitively sensitive information given to them by their clients. Each algorithmic scheme has its own distinct features, but they all share the same underlying philosophy: Competing on price in an open market is a race to the bottom, so why not instead coordinate together to grow industry’s profits? from Three Algorithms in a Room [The American Prospect; ungated]
Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the leaks & drips of an overactive bladder
A video lecture: "To pee or not to pee." The problem is clinicians don’t ask about urinary incontinence. It’s under recognized, under diagnosed, under treated, under discussed, understudied despite the fact it affects close to half of older women and about a third of older men. FAQ for an overactive bladder. [more inside]
Fear as a Game
'Fear is an oddly attractive force. Horror movies, haunted houses, bungee jumping—these are fear experiences we actually pay for. (My favorite tweet: “If I pay $40 for a haunted house I better die.”) Why do we do that—why do we crave small doses of terror?' Elisa Gabbert talks striving, play, and broken roller-coasters, in "Fear as a Game," in The Believer.
Yoko and the Beatles
"The reasons the Beatles broke up are extremely well documented and even at the height of their animosity none of the band ever blamed Yoko Ono for it - so why is this still a thing?" So asks Lindsay Ellis in a heartfelt 100-minute video essay (originally on Nebula, now also on YouTube). [more inside]
Neither Fully Automated Nor Particularly Luxurious
"On those occasions when Marxists have engaged the nature of a future socialist society, they too often shied away from problematizing future difficulties in favor of assuring the unconvinced that the difficulties involved in the construction of a socialist society had been vastly exaggerated. Yet working people well understand from their experience of capitalism that building a new society will be far from simple. ... What is instead needed is an honest presentation of the risks, costs, and dilemmas the socialist project will face, alongside credible examples and promising indications of how the problems might be creatively addressed." Sam Gindin lays out a blueprint for the future, in "Socialism for Realists," in Catalyst. [more inside]
the whole world will reap the rewards of your labor for years to come
"Now, if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to end my remarks a slightly unusual way." During his speech opening the 2024 NATO Summit, President Biden surprised NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the Presidential Medal of Freedom (CNN). [more inside]
on earth, rematriation
Artists across several national pavilions are exploring notions of contested land, land restitution, and rematriation — the latter of which signifies the return of objects to their original cultural contexts, avoiding the patriarchal and colonial overtones of “repatriation.” Several have also brought soil itself into the gallery space, emphasizing an engagement with land as a living entity that supports broader ecological and cultural systems [hyperallergic]
Old book, new tricks
Watch the process of re-binding an old book by Wainwright Bookbinding, interviewed here about her process by the Victoria and Albert Museum. (Instagram links)
"Not the Maya, that's not how they rolled..."
Fascinating short videos from Wired. They are a series of videos presented by experts in different fields who answer questions from the internet.
- Dr. Kory Evans Answers Fish Questions from Twitter
- Dr. Ed Barnhart Answers Questions on the Maya
- Jonna Mendez, Former CIA Chief of Disguise Answers Spy Questions
- Dr. Dorsay Armstrong Answers Questions on the Middle Ages
- Dr. Laurel Bestock answers Questions on Ancient Egypt
- Dr. Lauren Ginsburg answers Questions on Ancient Rome
All naming strategies are futile
An Abundance of Katherines: The Game Theory of Baby Naming. By Katy Blumer, Kate Donahue, Katie Fritz, Kate Ivanovich, Katherine Lee, Katie Luo, Cathy Meng and Katie Van Koevering.
In this paper, we study the highly competitive arena of baby naming. Through making several Extremely Reasonable Assumptions (namely, that parents are myopic, perfectly knowledgeable agents who pick a name based solely on its uniqueness), we create a model which is not only tractable and clean, but also perfectly captures the real world.
Satan Nips
Filmed entirely on a mobile phone camera, Crazy Wisdom [youtube, ~12min] is the latest video part from all-rounder Andy Anderson [wikipedia] featuring a mixture of vert, street, freestyle, and cartoon-logic physics-defying stunts. Darkslides, giant kink rails, huge ramps, stationary rail combos, whatever kind of skating you enjoy, there'll be something in here for you.
(Previous Andy Anderson FPPs.)
Soon it might never be Lupus again.
"Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital scientists have discovered a molecular defect that promotes the pathologic immune response in systemic lupus erythematosus (known as lupus) and in a study published in Nature, show that reversing this defect may potentially reverse the disease."
Africa Fashion celebrates queer storytelling and colonial rebellion
Africa Fashion celebrates queer storytelling and colonial rebellion. The National Gallery of Victoria's new exhibition tells the story of African fashion through queer storytelling, colonial rebellion and challenging stereotypes.