July 27, 2015
What is thy name?
"Humans as Superorganisms: How Microbes, Viruses, Imprinted Genes and Other Selfish Entities Shape Our Behavior" by Peter Kramer and Paola Bressan discusses the idea that an individual homo sapiens is only one component of the human superorganism we call a person, focusing on the psychological and psychiatric ramifications thereof. (Paola Bressan previously.)
Salty, sweet, sour, bitter, umami ... hearing?
Sonic Seasoning
“Sound is the forgotten flavour sense,” says experimental psychologist Charles Spence. In this episode of Gastropod, we discover how manipulating sound can transform our experience of food and drink, making stale crisps taste fresh, adding the sensation of cream to black coffee, or boosting the savory, peaty notes in whiskey.[more inside]
Boy Scouts of America Amends Adult Leadership Policy
Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly: "...the National Executive Board ratified a resolution that removes the national restriction on openly gay adult leaders and employees. Of those present and voting, 79 percent voted in favor of the resolution. The resolution is effective immediately."" [more inside]
Sanctuary! Sanctuary!
"So you are in 13th century England and you’ve been accused of, or maybe have actually committed, a murder. To be taken into custody and tried would likely result in execution, so you need to go to ground, fast." What do you do? Run to a church and claim sanctuary! [more inside]
That much is true
We all need silly things in our lives, so courtesy of James Leyland Kirby (aka V/Vm), here's a classic tune reduced to its bare minimum: Workin' In A Cocktail Bar. [more inside]
Cargo cult of personality
The IBM Watson Personality Insights service uses linguistic analytics to extract a spectrum of cognitive and social characteristics from the text data that a person generates through blogs, tweets, forum posts, and more. Just enter a chunk of text with at least 100 recognized words and Watson will break down your (or Hitler's or Donald Trump's) personality compared to other participants. [more inside]
"We never forget them, they're always with us."
MOAR Supa Action!!!!
"Who Killed Captain Alex: Uganda's First Action Movie was produced, written, directed, shot, and edited by Nabwana IGG from his home in Wakaliga, Uganda. Made for under $200 - using real blood and a modified car jack for a tripod - the film became a sensation in the slums of Uganda while the trailer went viral in Europe, South America, and the US." [more inside]
Forgive yourself for everything.
"What you want to avoid is panic. What you want to teach yourself is that you deserve better than lying alone in a dark room, imagining yourself buried." || Diana Spechler for NYT's Opinionator: 10 Things I'd Tell My Former (Medicated) Self, the final installment in Going Off, a series of essays recounting the challenges Spechler has faced in gradually discontinuing her regimen of psychiatric medications.
USOC Drops Boston 2024
Earlier today, the US Olympic committee dropped the Boston 2024 bid. Local website Universal Hub provided extensive coverage of the ill-fated bid, from its beginnings to today's end. [more inside]
[unicode symbol for inscribed pentagram]
The nine foot tall, 1 ton statue of Baphomet (discussed previously) has, at long last, been unveiled in Detroit! [more inside]
@ x 700
Do you like Roguelikes? (Yes, you do.) Then you are going to enjoy this collection of over 700 free or open source Roguelikes available by torrent, the full set of which is listed here. Since its a torrent, I should mention that while everything seems legitimate here (Rock Paper Shotgun likes it, and the poster is a moderator on r/games and runs a highly regarded Steam group) from both a rights and a malware perspective, nothing is guaranteed. Suggestions among the 7 GB within... [more inside]
Margaret Atwood on How to Save the World
It has become death, destroyer of worlds
Over a thousand scientists and public intellectuals, including Stephen Hawking, Daniel Dennett, Steve Wozniak, Noam Chomsky, and Elon Musk, have signed an open letter calling for a ban on the development and deployment of "offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control”, i.e., the coupling of autonomous Artificial Intelligence to weapons systems.
Yakety Max
ROGUE DAIRY QUEEN
Nowadays, if you go to a McDonald's in San Diego, odds are you'll see the same menu as your cousin in Miami who happens to be at her local McD's. But back in the early days of franchising, companies often signed contracts letting franchisees considerable latitude in their menus. And some of those franchisees are still operating under those old, old contracts, including the Dairy Queen in Moorhead, Minnesota. [more inside]
A Look Back At "Attack The Block"
They are people—not cannon fodder or back patting lessons in how deep down we’re all the same. Moses is an imposing, intimidating figure but director Joe Cornish lets the camera linger on his face and Boyega fills it with the compromises and dashed dreams to which he’s already acclimated. His gang are a delightfully maddening crew of young boys. They constantly try to demonstrate their machismo but clearly adore each other.
Not all opinions are created equal
Racist Readers Need Not Apply
Scott Vogel, editor-in-chief of Houstonia magazine, explains why he canceled the subscriptions of two readers who complained about an ad picturing an interracial family.
Scott Vogel, editor-in-chief of Houstonia magazine, explains why he canceled the subscriptions of two readers who complained about an ad picturing an interracial family.
👔
Man in Blue Suit Thanks Firefighters
For a second straight day, firefighting efforts at the Westside Road fire were the backdrop for political photo ops. Today, several federal politicians stood around waiting, occasionally wiping dirt from their clothing while sweaty, ash-covered, exhausted-looking firefighters surrounded them for the tightly controlled photo opportunity. Helicopters carrying empty buckets buzzed overhead and a steady stream of wildfire fighting aircraft circled prior to the event.via: HuffPoCanada
MEEF-EYE
The International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA) is a free, online archive of primary-source dialect and accent recordings of the English language. Founded in 1997 at the University of Kansas, it includes hundreds of recordings of English speakers by natives of nearly 100 different countries. To find an example of an accent or dialect, use the Global Map, or select a continent or region at the Dialects and Accents page. [more inside]
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer
The election of a new leader of the Labour Party looked like being a rather uninteresting affair with three candidates from the moderate to right wing of the party. A token leftie was added to open up the debate but he stood now chance... However against all expectation, that leftie, Jeremy Corbyn, is surging ahead in popularity and may actually win. Perhaps because unlike the other candidates Corbyn speaks like a human being and has anti-austerity policies that the public like. [more inside]
Antelope? More like antelnope.
Kate Clark is an artist who uses clay to sculpt human faces for taxidermied animals. You can easily browse the gallery by starting here and using the arrow navigation in the top right.
GIFs of life in Japan
Pregnant then Screwed
A website for women who have been discriminated against whilst they were pregnant or after having a baby. 54,000 UK women a year are forced out of their jobs due to pregnancy. This doesn't include the women who are demoted, harassed, aren't put forward for promotion, or those that are self employed. Pregnant Then Screwed is a place for these women to tell their story anonymously. [more inside]
Slave Labor Supplies Pet Food Fish
If you feed your pet commercial pet food, there's a good chance the fish in it came from slave labor. "In the past year, Thai Union has shipped more than 28 million pounds of seafood-based cat and dog food for some of the top brands sold in America including Iams, Meow Mix and Fancy Feast, according to United States Customs documents."
What if Spider-Man's Uncle Ben was shot by police rather than a burglar?
Over on Tumblr, Jolly Good imagines an origin for Spider-Man more in keeping with modern times which the artist behind the all the things blog captures in a couple of key scenes.
The 56 Greatest Musical Moments in Guitar History
Get your guit on. As chosen by the staff of Guitar Player. Rumble!
The Original OMG Bunny
On this date in 1940 (that's exactly 75 years ago, bud), a new Merrie Melodies cartoon premiered: "A Wild Hare"; and Bugs Bunny was officially 'born'.
Warner Bros. had made previous cartoons with 'crazy rabbits' (or 'cwazy wabbits') before, but this one, directed by cartoon legend Tex Avery was the first one with the recognizable 'Bugs' character design and the first time Mel Blanc used Bugs' distinctive voice to say "What's up, doc?", as well as the first time Elmer Fudd, (voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, NOT Blanc) said "Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits".
Happy Birthday, Bugsy, you sure don't look 75 (though you always were grey haired [hared]) [more inside]
Warner Bros. had made previous cartoons with 'crazy rabbits' (or 'cwazy wabbits') before, but this one, directed by cartoon legend Tex Avery was the first one with the recognizable 'Bugs' character design and the first time Mel Blanc used Bugs' distinctive voice to say "What's up, doc?", as well as the first time Elmer Fudd, (voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, NOT Blanc) said "Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits".
Happy Birthday, Bugsy, you sure don't look 75 (though you always were grey haired [hared]) [more inside]
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