December 8, 2015
The emperor was naked, and so is this.
"Respected research math is dominated by men of a certain attitude. Even allowing for individual variation, there is still a tendency towards an oppressive atmosphere, which is carefully maintained and even championed by those who find it conducive to success." Recent Princeton graduate Piper Harron's PhD thesis isn't written for these men. It is very cool number theory, and it is art.
Quantum computing! Brought to you by Google, Goldman Sachs, the NSA...
Google successfully tests the first commercially available quantum computer. Google/NASA's Quantum Computing / AI lab has verified that D-Wave Systems recently announced 1000+ qubit quantum computer works as designed: really, really, really fast. "A 100,000,000x leap in computing power", one of their board members claims. In addition to Google, NASA, and government grants, D-Wave's CEO, the former CTO of Goldman Sachs, also obtained large initial investments from the financial industry. One of their first customers? Los Alamos National Laboratory, "a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security." This obviously has huge implications for public key encryption, scientific research... everything, really.
Thirty-five years ago, during the Dolphins vs Patriots MNF game,
Howard breaks the news --The behind-the scene debate about how to present the matter.
Following the game, Ted Koppel did a special Nightline report.(slyt)
The following night, ABC devoted a special edition to Lennon.(slyt) [more inside]
Following the game, Ted Koppel did a special Nightline report.(slyt)
The following night, ABC devoted a special edition to Lennon.(slyt) [more inside]
We have to show everyone how happy we are!
The Part About The Crimes
On the heels of Canada's announcement of a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women, CBC will be tweeting every 6 minutes over 24 hours the names, photos and cases of over 250 women under the hashtag #MMIW.
And now, the paddling of the swollen ass. With paddles.
US Patent 6,293,874: User-operated amusement apparatus for kicking the user's buttocks.
An amusement apparatus including a user-operated and controlled apparatus for self-infliction of repetitive blows to the user's buttocks by a plurality of elongated arms bearing flexible extensions that rotate under the user's control. The first post is provided with a crank positioned at a height thereon which requires the user to bend forward toward the first post while grasping the crank with both hands, to prominently present his buttocks toward the second post. As the user rotates the crank, the user's buttocks are paddled by flexible shoes located on each outboard end of the elongated arms to provide amusement to the user and viewers of the paddling.[more inside]
"There is a certain power and mystery in secrets..."
WIRED does a deep dive into the identity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, and points the finger at Dr Craig Steven Wright: "Either Wright invented bitcoin, or he’s a brilliant hoaxer who very badly wants us to believe he did."
Billy on the Street's "Escape from Scientology"
Billy Eichner hosts the first episode of the obstacle course gameshow "Leah Remini's Escape from Scientology." Rachel Dratch is the contestant.
Mindsuckers
NPR’s Book Concierge
Once again, NPR has organized their list of the year's best books into the Book Concierge, a recommendation engine with 29 categories - everything from It's All Geek to Me to The Dark Side to Eye-Opening Reads - available to mix, match, and sort.
Who Built The Moon? We did. Or... will.
"At some time in the future humanity will embark upon the most distant and most important journey it is ever likely to take. It will be necessary to travel 4.6 billion years into the past to complete a massive engineering project to create Earth's Moon." Who Built the Moon?
What began as theory persists as style
When Nothing Is Cool is an insider critique of English academia's culture of critique. [more inside]
Human Echolocation
How Human Echolocation Allows People to See Without Using Their Eyes "Daniel Kish, who lost his vision when he was a year old but has made headlines for climbing mountains, riding bikes and living alone in the wilderness." His case and others like him helped inspire studies into human echolocation, something even sighted people are capable of learning. [more inside]
Donut Cat & Friends
Donyatsu - an anime series wherein the ruins of human civilization are inhabited by . . . cute animals shaped like round baked goods. On a given one-and-a-half-minute episode, they might try to play with a giant robot or quote Terminator. [more inside]
Soloway describes herself as “seditious.
"That night, Soloway sat in the bathtub, while her husband, Bruce Gilbert, a music supervisor for film and television, brushed his teeth. She remembers telling him, “ ‘I don’t want to use the money to pay off our debt. I want to be a director, and I want to make a film with it and get into Sundance. I want to double down on me.’ And Bruce was, like, ‘O.K.’ ” Then, just as Soloway was making the leap to directing her own material, her father called one afternoon and came out as transgender." (SL New Yorker)
I try not to be afraid. I am still afraid.
Being A Girl: A Brief Personal History of Violence [The Belle Jar]
Hamill, Fisher, Ford, Kasdan, Abrams, Boyega, Driver, Ridley
I Was Internet Famous
Here, nine YouTube sensations whose lives were upended briefly in the past decade (plus one from the prehistoric web era, before YouTube made its debut in 2005) speak about this odd, relatively new kind of fame. Most embraced the experience, seeing where it would take them. Some ended up in dark places. A couple have made it their living and found themselves with new careers. Others stepped away, opting out of the flame wars. Pay attention: Someday, the accidental celebrity could be you.
The Beginning of the End of Big Government IT
The state of California just announced that the new technology underpinning its Child Welfare System [pdf] won't be the usual "IT Solution" bought up in one big lump to follow a 4000-page specification. Instead, it's going to be built as a series of smaller modular projects driven by user needs, drawing on agile methodologies, a wider range of vendors, and, wherever possible, open standards and open source software. The decision, made in collaboration with Code for America and the federal government, sets an important precedent for how governments on all levels can get past the pitfalls of the standard procurement model. [more inside]
Professor Kanye and the Business of Yeezus
Kanye gave a lecture at the Oxford Guild earlier this year, and it's now available on YouTube for everyone's viewing pleasure. [more inside]
What Billy Bragg Songs Mean To Us
Take a ride on the Genre Line to Nonlinear Rant Again
Mistrust the process.
The Philadelphia 76ers are the worst team in basketball, by design. Under general manager Sam Hinkie, the team has been unabashed in stockpiling players they hope will one day be great while barely even trying to win games in the meantime, since worse teams get better draft picks. (Previously) But those days may be over, as it seems the NBA itself has effectively forced the Sixers to hire an executive who will at least try to build a winning team. It's a rare, if not unprecedented, instance of a professional sports league stepping in to save a theoretically independent team from itself. [more inside]
“The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.”
Four-day marathon public reading of War and Peace begins in Russia. [The Guardian]
A marathon four-day Russian public reading of Leo Tolstoy’s vast classic novel War and Peace kicked off on Tuesday morning, with more than 1,300 people in more than 30 cities preparing to make their contributions to the record-breaking project. Coordinated by Tolstoy’s great-great-granddaughter Fekla Tolstaya, and featuring a number of cultural luminaries including the Polish film director Andrzej Wajda, the readings are being streamed by Russian state television channel Kultura. One volume of Tolstoy’s fictionalised history of Russia during the Napoleonic campaign will be read each day.
“Beer doesn’t care what color you are": Annie Johnson, brewmaster
Annie Johnson can replicate beer from taste. “I have a real knack for tasting something and breaking it down,” she says. “If I like it, I can immediately go home and make it.” But it's her own original experiments with beer that bring amazing creations to the table: her light American lager, Mow the Damn Lawn, earned her the title of Homebrewer of the Year in 2013. She's not your average beer geek, and has things to say about strange additives (Reddit AMA), race and craft beer, and her favorite tools. She is BrewMaster-in-residence at PicoBrew. [more inside]
The pronunciation is a little strange, so you can practice: SCHLONG
Ronnie helps the non-native speaker get the hang of swearing, talking about sex (NSFW) and related body parts (NSFW), prostitution (NSFW), drugs, getting high or just chilling. Also, piss. Jade will teach you some Multicultural London English and childish insults. Emma talks shit and more shit, and teaches you ways to describe the women and men you're attracted to. James delves into Christian Bale's notorious rant for useful expressions in a two part lesson (both NSFW). [more inside]
On dads and dad music (SL Storify)
Mallory Ortberg asked her Twitter followers to share their dad music stories, and, boy, did they ever deliver.
The fall of Jersey:
How a tax haven goes bust. Guardian long-read describing the rise and fall of Jersey as an offshore tax haven.
Vincent walks!
Veterinarians at Iowa State University have successfully implanted prosthetic legs in Vincent, a three-year-old cat.
Jon Stewart returns!
Jon Stewart returned last night to the Daily Show. He was there to ask for support in getting the Zadroga Act passed, which would provide funding for first responders who were injured on 9/11. Although the bill was scheduled to be included in the Transportation Bill, it was pulled by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The bill has 67 senators and 270 Representatives pledged to support it, but Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan continue to block it. It has to be added to the Omnibus bill by Friday, or all funding will be cut.
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