April 27, 2015
console.mihai(); // Thank you, Mihai
Mihai's legacy is that there are hundreds of millions of people using a product, Firefox, that Mihai contributed to, hundreds of thousands of them of them spend a significant proportion of their time in the console that was his responsibility. And there are billions of people using websites created by people directly helped by Mihai's work. [more inside]
The needle and the damage undone.
History as data science
History Lab has "focused on digitizing, structuring and visualizing large sets of declassified US government documents. This is a starting point for showcasing how computational techniques can aid historical research." Can big-data analysis show what kinds of information the government is keeping classified? [more inside]
"We shall not meet again; over the wave / Our ways divide"
Take Nothing, Leave Nothing. How Simon Winchester came to be banned from the world’s most remote island, Tristan da Cunha. Previously.
Freddie Gray protests: Governor of Maryland Declares State of Emergency
The Governor of Maryland has declared a state of emergency due to the situation in Baltimore. For several days protesters have been highlighting the cause of Gray, an African-American who died after being taken into police custody for making eye contact with an officer, then attempting to run away. Gray's spine was nearly severed at the time of his death, possibly having to do with his seatbelt not being fastened in the police van. [more inside]
In a darkening time: Remembering Joe Bageant
"Returning as he did to Winchester right as Bush took office, Joe Bageant stepped into a writer’s dream—a perfect confluence of subject, setting, and personal knowledge—and he responded with fury, writing essay after raging essay, a dazzling output that collectively foresaw the housing crisis and recession, Obamacare, and “the 1 percent” as a rhetorical tool. Yet four years after his death, he’s remembered for one book and a corresponding moment of semi-fame as “America’s Most Literate Redneck,” if he’s remembered at all." From The Baffler: Toxically Pure: Joe Bageant drops out. [more inside]
Blue Crude
A Dispatch From the Shifting, Porous Border Between Butch and Trans
The borders between butch women, masculine genderqueer people, and trans men are clearer in theory than in practice. In order to find out more about how people in these categories experience gender, I spoke with individuals from across the butch/trans spectrum, from female-identified butches to formerly butch-identifying trans men, and found commonalities, as well as differences, among them.
Skate Girls
"Forbidden from riding bikes, fearless Afghan girls are skateboarding around Kabul." The creation of Oliver Percovich, Skateistan is a grassroots project that connects youth and education through skateboarding in Afghanistan, and over 40% of their students are girls.
"I realised skateboarding was a loophole. It was so new that nobody had a chance to say that girls couldn't do it yet."
Then, a sky, an urban, and an empty. Here, the sky is for fly in.
word.camera generates paragraphs from a photograph. Example: photo of Hillary Clinton. A more detailed explanation at MetaFilter Projects; from Mefi's own TheMadStork.
Omnishambles
In the Torygraph 5,000 small business owners wrote an open letter supporting the Tories in the UK election. So far so predictable, until people on Twitter started taking a closer look and found some strange discrepancies in the list...
fly that tune rag
We choose to go to the Mun because it is hard
After almost 4 years of development, Kerbal Space Program hit version 1.0. Today, Kerbal Space Program reached a major milestone, declaring the release of version 1.0 and the removal of the "Early Access" label. [more inside]
You Have to See It to Beelieve It
BeeLine Reader makes screen reading easier with multicolored gradients that guide your eyes from line to line.
Kanye West's First Beats
Jensen Karp: “I was stumbling through my garage, searching through old storage bins, when I came across some old beat CDs from my days as a signed Interscope rapper. I was shocked to find that two of them, both given to me in ‘01, had the name Kanye West on them.” (via)
“Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.”
Six PEN Members Decline Gala After Award for Charlie Hebdo [New York Times]
“The decision by PEN American Center to give its annual Freedom of Expression Courage award to the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo has prompted six writers to withdraw as literary hosts at the group’s annual gala on May 5, adding a new twist to the continuing debate over the publication’s status as a martyr for free speech. The novelists Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner and Taiye Selasi have withdrawn from the gala, at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.”[more inside]
"I'm glad I bought it and I'm sure I'll love it in a couple of months"
A self-proclaimed insufferable asshole named Matt complains about his new luxury watch. Turns out it's the most personal device ever, only not in an insanely great way. Still, he has hopes for the future of his new wearable computer. (MeFi's own mathowie at medium.com.)
Google Paul Rand... oh, nevermind
There's already one big loser in the 2016 Presidental Campaign: Paul Rand, the legendary graphic designer, who has lost more than half of the first-page search results on Google, Bing and GoDuckGo for his name to Candidate Rand Paul. Especially ironic considering that Paul Rand COULD have improved Rand Paul's campaign logo, according to Ernie Smith in his "blog via email" Tedium. [more inside]
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