September 9
Welcome to Yer a Sucker University
I joined Jordan Peterson's online school to dispel "woke nonsense": This is what I learned. (slTorontoStar) (archive.ph link here)
Formula Too Complex
Machine Yearning is a 26 minute demo album by Linus A which consists of just 4096 bytes of machine code. You can read how it was made here. This follows on A Mind is Born, an infamous 256 byte demo. [previously] [more inside]
I am Minimus
Minimus sum, mus sum. (I am Minimus, I am a mouse.) I live at Vindolanda (and in Suffolk) with my family. I'll help you to learn Latin. sequere me! (Follow me!) [more inside]
Giant burrowing cockroach that can live 10 years
This giant burrowing cockroach could be the key to protecting undisturbed coastal reserve. There is a push to protect Queensland's Reedy Creek Reserve by having it recognised under a special state conservation law. The charity hopes that the giant burrowing cockroach, Macropanesthia rothi and a potentially new crayfish species of the Tenuibranchiurus genus will help to elevate Reedy Creek Reserve to the status of a special wildlife reserve, a protection unique to Queensland. "This is a cockroach that lives for 10 years, potentially, and it's a really fascinating creature and really important for the area," Bush Heritage special wildlife reserve project officer Felicity Shapland said. [more inside]
Ghost of Your Guitar Solo
It’s a gift when you can do that, when you can forget
Some people say rereading is the only reading, but sometimes I think first readings are the only rereading. This isn’t total nonsense. First readings are when I pay the most attention, do the most doubling back. They’re when I have the most capacity for shock and joy. When I reread I am always comparing my experience to my first impression, a constant distraction; I am tempted to skip and skim, to get along with it and verify my memories already, my belief that I already know what I think. You can reread ad infinitum, but you can only read something for the first time once. from Same River, Same Man by Elisa Gabbert [The Millions]
September 8
Builders in unlikely solidarity
"Semenov had never belonged to a labor union before coming to Sweden. Now, he sits on the board of the country’s most rapidly growing and undoubtedly most unique labor union: Builders in Solidarity. Founded in 2021, it unites migrant construction workers, most of whom hail from post-Soviet countries and have no previous labor organizing experience." A story from The Beet, Meduza's newsletter on Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Celebrity Number Six has been found
If you’re not familiar with the mystery of Celebrity Number Six, catch up here. In short, the internet has been looking for a photo for around three years. [more inside]
A 3500-year-old receipt, on which someone recorded a furniture sale
Researchers have discovered that a clay tablet found in Turkey is actually a 3500-year-old receipt, on which someone recorded a furniture sale. The small clay rectangle is engraved with an ancient Semitic language known as Akkadian (Smithsonian Magazine).
Sunken Ships of the Second World War
"Resurfacing the Past": "More than 20,000 ships sank during World War II. One man is on a mission to map them all - and is uncovering untold stories along the way." Day by day animation. Dashboard. Stories of the sunken ships. WWII shipwrecks in the news. On the Solarpunk Presents podcast: "Protecting the Environment With GIS: Mapping WWII's Sunken Ships with Paul Heersink." An article on the oil the ships may contain. Stories of sunken ships previously.
A true rawdogger takes no indulgences
Everyone has their own tricks for staving off boredom on a long-haul flight. Some people load up on podcast episodes, others power through the available in-flight entertainment. But no one simply sits, staring silently at the real-time flight map on the screen in front of them, for the entirety of a trip. Right? Wrong. A small group of hardy men—the gender that brought you frat hazing and Logan Paul—are now doing exactly that, and for a variety of surprisingly solid reasons. from Why Men Are ‘Rawdogging’ Flights [GQ]
The Prince We Never Knew
Ezra Edelman has made a nine-hour documentary about the complicated life and passing of the musician Prince, but disputes with the late artist's estate over his portrayal may mean it might never be seen.
It's pronounced with a hard G
So, I woke up with the song Jolene in my head, but the words were "Go Lean". Curious if someone did a riff on the idea, I found they had. That is all.
Who Gets to Kill in Self-Defense?
Who Gets to Kill in Self-Defense? (NYT, Sept 4, 2024, ungated gift link)
"We make this allowance when we acquit men like George Zimmerman and Kyle Rittenhouse, neither of whom for a single second were dragged by the hair through a hallway or had their children threatened with an ax. We do so because throughout the history of our legal system, we have been inclined — in many cases, overly inclined — to make exceptions for men’s violence while giving very little thought to what might drive women to the same act." [more inside]
Bob Dylan’s 60 Greatest Songs: Chosen by Paul McCartney, Bono, Patti...
... Smith, Nick Cave, Chris Martin and more! Yep, it's another listicle - but one with a more interesting set of contributors than most. Probably best to ignore the rankings element and just treat it as collection of music biz folks discussing their favourite Dylan tracks. [more inside]
Language of the Rococo
"Step into Flora Yukhnovich's studio." Profile in Vogue: "Stroke of Genius: How 34-Year-Old Flora Yukhnovich's 21st-Century Spin on Rococo Turned Her Into an Art-World Phenomenon." Imagination, Life is Your Creation. Warm, Wet 'N' Wild. Tu vas me faire rougir. "The Venice Paintings." "Thirst Trap." Artist's website. "Interview: Through the Language of the Rococo." Paintings by Boucher. Paintings by Fragonard, famous painter of games or play--like "The Swing," discussed with Flora Yukhnovich at the end of a conversation about the color "Pink" particularly in the Rococo, e.g. a "Fête Champêtre" by Pater (00:37:46), but also in a 1977 painting by de Kooning (00:17:44).
Statistically, Arnold Schwarzenegger is better than Sylvester Stallone
September 7
These Indigenous languages use signs, not sounds
These Indigenous languages use signs, not sounds. Indigenous sign languages will be taught alongside Auslan in New South Wales schools by 2026 as statistics show 43 per cent of First Nations Australians older than seven have some form of hearing loss.
'It basically lifts the skies up.'
Museum on Millionaire Row can’t afford any employees
Group Chats
The LARB's "Group Chats" (08/26/2024) gathers thoughts like Daniel Lavery's: "My experience of being in group chats has largely been one of a resentful sense of being corralled and press-ganged into consensus. To clarify: Whenever I create a group chat, I am Danny Ocean assembling a crack team ... for a daring heist." Also: US Magazine's "Celebrity Group Chats"; Kurt Ostrow's essay on friendship linking to Safia Elhillo's poem "Self Portrait With No Flag" & Aaron Edwards on how "these spaces, particularly for people of color, aren't like social media"; Layla Kinjawi Faraj's essay (ungated) on "how for her Syrian family, scattered by war, a ... group chat ... is everything"; Hannah Sung's essay (ungated) on "The Last Place Left Online for Real Conversation"; and Sophie Haigney's essay (ungated) on "How Group Chats Rule the World."
"Siuuuuu!"
Las Thursday, Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo became the first man to score 900 career goals. Here are all 900. Here's an X thread with Cristiano Ronaldo’s 1st, 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th, 500th, 600th, 700th, 800th, & 900th Goals. [more inside]
buildings have an outsized impact on our health
The Pivotal Importance of Air Quality and Ventilation (podcast with transcript). See also environmental engineering professor Linsey Marr's work, who was inspired to focus on bioaerosols after their kid came home with an awful cold. Joseph G Allen's paper Recommitting to Ventilation Standards for Healthy Indoor Air Quality
Scientist carbon dates his own kidney stone to find out when it formed
"Please save it for me": Scientist carbon dates his own kidney stone to find out when it formed. Kidney stones are an annoying, painful condition that affects many of us, but it's not easy to tell when they form. A scientist who carbon dates objects for a living decided to work out the age of his kidney stone.
How is it that so few men like women?
"It’s different than knowing you can get women, or wanting to control women, or even loving women. He likes them. He appreciates them. He enjoys their company. Tom Cruise doesn’t like women. Neither does Miles Teller. Channing Tatum likes women. So does Ryan Gosling. Brad Pitt used to like women but doesn’t anymore."
"But isn’t that pretty basic? Don’t most men like women?"
"But isn’t that pretty basic? Don’t most men like women?"
Clean as evergreen with a spoonful of sugar on its breath
For several seasons, I have been making surprising discoveries in the dark, surrounded by animals that rise with the moon—creatures such as owls, salamanders, and glowworms. Is there anything more moving than awaking to wonders that you have been wandering among all your life unaware? Is there anything more hopeful than realizing that you’ve always been surrounded by sublime scenes, even when you were living through days and weeks and months full of despair? Once you’ve brushed against night’s magic, it’s hard not to yearn for more of the shimmering life that seems to reside in all the darkest places.
Author Leigh Ann Henion experiences the marvel that is night-blooming tobacco and shows how easy it is to reveal and revel in the fact of our ecological being.
No, your philosophy degree is still worthless
Maybe you've heard of the game where you start on a random Wikipedia article and then follow the first link repeatedly. It almost always ends at the 'Philosophy' page. But why? What does it say about the structure of the site? Can we visualize it somehow? What about second or third or fifth links? Does graph theory provide any tools to help? Oh look a ~20 min Youtube video by 'Not David' that addresses all of these questions.
No Captain, We Have Not Illegally Installed Starlink On This Warship
“I call myself a moderately conservative communist, and I mean it."
While students recognise him, the Slovenian media ignores him and so, increasingly, does the mainstream left-wing press internationally. Žižek is in a strange place in 2024. Jokes are innate to his political pessimism, and his pessimism is offset by his energy; while humour drives his work, it also undermines its seriousness. “The fans are attracted to my dirty jokes, the idea that I am normal,” he says, “but this perception, the right-wingers use against me. They call me one of the world’s best-known ridiculous clowns.” from Slavoj Žižek’s war with the left [The New Statesman]
September 6
The giant gurgling earthworms of Gippsland
The giant gurgling earthworms of Gippsland. The secrets of giant earthworms that live beneath the rolling hills of eastern Victoria — where they can be heard but are rarely seen — are set to be revealed in new research. This is a species of annelid worm called the giant Gippsland earthworm (Megascolides australis). It earns the name giant because an average adult is a metre [3.2 feet] long — making it one of the biggest earthworms in the world.
Intemporal
Women Art Collectors and the Museums they started
Did you realize that some of the most famous Modern Art Museums were either started by women or run by them? In the current exhibition Brilliant Exiles at the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery(previously ), one portrait's information made the comment that many Modern Art Museums in America had their origin in collections started by women during this time. Here are a few articles about them and other museums started by women [more inside]
Harris has the keys
"But the outcome is up to you. So get out and vote!" American University professor Allan Lichtman (previously) calls the 2024 election, according to his keys to the White House model. (SLNYT)
TRAИƧA
The latest album from Red Hot is TRAИƧA, in development since 2021, with the aim of celebrating and supporting trans and non-binary communities. [more inside]
Didja hear Zygotic Washstands by Camel Edible?
To avoid detection, Smith spread his streaming activity across numerous fake songs, never playing a single track too many times. He also generated unique names for the AI-created artists and songs, trying to blend in with the quirky names of legitimate musical acts. Smith used artist names like "Callous Post" and "Calorie Screams," while their songs included titles such as "Zygotic Washstands" and "Zymotechnical." from FBI busts musician’s elaborate AI-powered $10M streaming-royalty heist [Ars Technica] [more inside]
Ars Excerpendi
"It never helps historians to say too much about their working methods. For just as the conjuror’s magic disappears if the audience knows how the trick is done, so the credibility of scholars can be sharply diminished if readers learn everything about how exactly their books came to be written. Only too often, such revelations dispel the impression of fluent, confident omniscience; instead, they suggest that histories are concocted by error-prone human beings who patch together the results of incomplete research in order to construct an account whose rhetorical power will, they hope, compensate for gaps in the argument and deficiencies in the evidence." Working Methods, an LRB essay by historian Keith Thomas on the joys and horrors of note-taking. (h/t Gavin Jacobson) [more inside]
Endangered marsupial making comeback on remote island
On a remote island in the Southern Ocean, this endangered marsupial is making its comeback. As few as 120 Gilbert's potoroos remain in the wild, so when two new animals were found on Middle Island off the WA coast, it was a cause for celebration.
A critical hit: Dungeons and Dragons as a buff for autistic people
While research and anecdotal reports suggests that autistic people may be particularly drawn to the hobby due to its structure and inclusivity (Fein, 2015), understanding how TTRPGs could function as social support was of specific interest.
As such, this study aimed to investigate how autistic individuals experience TTRPGs in groups of all autistic players. In what way do TTRPG games function as a safe space for autistic people where they can interact comfortably and expand their social lives?
U.S. indictment reveals far-right influencers bankrolled by Kremlin
Meet the right-wing Canadian influencers accused of collaborating with an alleged Russian propaganda scheme. A CBC investigation identified far-right media outlet Tenet Media, launched in November 2023, as the organization referred to in a September 4 indictment of two Russian nationals for disinformation and election interference. [more inside]
An ‘Unhinged Werewolf’ Will Make It Clear Who Voted
It kind of just came to me. “If there is ever a year to have an unhinged werewolf ripping its shirt off as the “I Voted” sticker … it’s 2024.” [more inside]
Dam, that's cool
A timelapse of the BC Hydro Site C project reservoir fill. Exactly what it says on the tin; I never really knew I wanted to watch a reservoir fill till I got the opportunity to. [slyt]
Hvaldimir is no more
Hvaldimir, a beluga Delphinapterus leucas appeared five years ago in Norwegian waters sporting a go-pro harness [90s YT], and not a million miles from Murmansk. He emigrated to Sweden earlier this year but returned North. Apparently someone shot him a week ago. [more inside]
he said it tasted strongly of copper
A well regulated Militia ... shall not be infringed
But despite the riot and its fallout, militias are far from extinct. AP3 has expanded at a dramatic pace since Jan. 6, while keeping much of its activity out of view. This rise is documented in more than 100,000 internal messages obtained by ProPublica, spanning the run-up to Jan. 6 through early 2024. Along with extensive interviews with 22 current and former members of AP3, the records provide a uniquely detailed inside view of the militia movement at a crucial moment. from Armed and Underground: Inside the Turbulent, Secret World of an American Militia [ProPublica] [CW: "This story discusses threats of violence and contains a racial slur."]
September 5
The fight to save the dingo is heating up
The fight to save the dingo is heating up.
Traditional owner and fourth-generation grazier Joshua Henry was raised to see dingoes as a threat to cattle. Now his views have changed and he's adding his voice to calls to ban the killing of dingoes. [more inside]
"AI generated country song"
Webbed Briefs
Webbed Briefs are brief videos about the web, its technologies, and how to make the most of them. They’re packed with information, fun times(TM), and actual goats. [more inside]
They belong in a museum!
Firsts: The History of Computing from the Paul G. Allen Collection. Items are currently being auctioned at Christie's. In addition: Pushing Boundaries: Ingenuity from the Paul G. Allen Collection and Over the Horizon: Art of the Future from the Paul G. Allen Collection
Never give up! Do your best!
What is more humiliating: talking about pain, or talking about pleasure?
I had never cried so much. Nor had I ever masturbated so much, with such regularity, with so much calm, so much enjoyment. I expelled an excess of tears because thinking about plural love, parenting, or solitary pleasure sometimes leads us to imagine scenes we had never imagined for ourselves. Because thinking about your present wellbeing also means rethinking past humiliation — ‘your silence will not protect you’, wrote Audre Lorde, who understood a speech act not only as a shout in public but also a whisper in the ears of the right people. And because preparing the body for the greatest sentimental adventure of all — the one that involves loving yourself — also involves care, warmth, generosity, understanding, and transparency. It’s something that goes beyond anxiety. Beyond the nervous work of writing or confession. from Hot by Luna Miguel [The Dial] [NSFW language]
« Older posts | Newer posts »