August 11, 2016
Rogue One Official Trailer
A Slaptstick Masterpeice.
Sailing off to nowhere
Dr. Robert Zubrin with a brief, passionate, and well-articulated answer to the question: why should we go to Mars?
"Birth is a monstrous thing, and it has no moral component."
"Bodies do have a sort of wisdom but it’s easy to lose track of how that wisdom is not moral. It’s the stories we tell about bodies that overlay them with moral values."
"Monstrous Births: Pushing back against empowerment in childbirth" is an essay by Sarah Blackwell on the moral valence of birth, what we tell ourselves about empowerment, and a side of historical narrative. (SLHairpin)
"Monstrous Births: Pushing back against empowerment in childbirth" is an essay by Sarah Blackwell on the moral valence of birth, what we tell ourselves about empowerment, and a side of historical narrative. (SLHairpin)
"I put the wig on and people laughed.”
"Joanne the Scammer lives for drama. Branden Miller is just trying to live." Performer and comic Branden Miller is a quiet young man who collects fragrances. His comic persona Joanne The Scammer is a fur-wrapped con artist moving from one stolen credit card to another and a Twitter sensation. The Fader talked to Miller about racial indenity, growing up gay, sex work, the fragility of internet fame, and getting scammed.
Long in the Tooth
"She was born during the reign of James I, was a youngster when René Descartes set out his rules of thought and the great fire of London raged, saw out her adolescent years as George II ascended the throne, reached adulthood around the time that the American revolution kicked off, and lived through two world wars. Living to an estimated age of nearly 400 years, a female Greenland shark has set a new record for longevity, scientists have revealed." [more inside]
“Twitter is the free speech wing of the free speech party,”
According to 10 high-level former employees, the social network’s long history with abuse has been fraught with inaction and organizational disarray. Taken together, these interviews tell the story of a company that’s been ill-equipped to handle harassment since its beginnings. Fenced in by an abiding commitment to free speech above all else and a unique product that makes moderation difficult and trolling almost effortless, Twitter has, over a chaotic first decade marked by shifting business priorities and institutional confusion, allowed abuse and harassment to continue to grow as a chronic problem and perpetual secondary internal priority. On Twitter, abuse is not just a bug, but — to use the Silicon Valley term of art — a fundamental feature.[more inside]
Is acute psychosis a brain disorder? Hypothetically yes, but...
Over three years, those never treated with antipsychotics had much better outcomes – 8 per cent relapse versus 62 per cent for the drug-treated. I could cite other, more recent studies with similar findings. This is why we may be holding the tail of a tiger. We may be unwittingly turning an acute and generally time-limited condition into a chronic disability.
The Insult
You know Mac, the beach weakling. Now read his new adventures. Based on the often spoofed old comic book ad, The Insult puts "Mac" facing a change in lifestyle after his unfortunate incident on the beach. Watch him become an Improv Performer, a Vinyl Collector, a Jedi Knight, a Tudor King, or a Muppet.
(via).
Part Finnish, part Native American
In the Great Lakes region there are people with roots in Finland and among indigenous North American peoples. It’s impossible to know how exactly many of these so-called ‘Findians’ exist, but their numbers are estimated in the hundreds. Author Katja Kettu, journalist Maria Seppälä and photographer Meeri Koutaniemi documented their lives over the course of three years. Their experiences form the basis for their book, ‘Findian country’.
You Won't Believe What Aliens Have Done In The Outer Solar System!
There's something weird going on beyond Neptune - A mysterious object has been discovered with an inexplicable orbit.
Talk to a physicist. Call me on Skype. $50 per 20 minutes.
What I learned as a hired consultant to autodidact physicists My clients read way too much into pictures, measuring every angle, scrutinising every colour, counting every dash. Illustrators should be more careful to point out what is relevant information and what is artistic freedom.
But the most important lesson I’ve learned is that journalists are so successful at making physics seem not so complicated that many readers come away with the impression that they can easily do it themselves. How can we blame them for not knowing what it takes if we never tell them?
But the most important lesson I’ve learned is that journalists are so successful at making physics seem not so complicated that many readers come away with the impression that they can easily do it themselves. How can we blame them for not knowing what it takes if we never tell them?
The only known recording of Virginia Woolf
The splendid word "incarnadine" for example, who can use that without remembering "multitudinous seas?" "In the Only Surviving Recording of Her Voice, Virginia Woolf Explains Why Writing Isn’t a “Craft” (1937)"
Surely this...
In the fall of 1988, Massachusetts Governor and Democratic Presidential Candidate Michael Dukakis needed a way to demonstrate to the American people that he, as President, would be committed to building up the nation's conventional military. So, before a speech on national security at a Michigan factory, he put on a military helmet and rode in on a battle tank. Spoiler Alert: It didn't go well for him. [Remember when all it took was a bad photo op to destroy a presidential campaign?] [more inside]
"Then it all went horribly wrong."
Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart "The geography of this catastrophe is broad and its causes are many, but its consequences — war and uncertainty throughout the world — are familiar to us all. Scott Anderson’s story gives the reader a visceral sense of how it all unfolded, through the eyes of six characters in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. Accompanying Anderson’s text are 10 portfolios by the photographer Paolo Pellegrin, drawn from his extensive travels across the region over the last 14 years, as well as a landmark virtual-reality experience that embeds the viewer with the Iraqi fighting forces during the battle to retake Falluja."
Crowdsourcing is Only as Representative as the Crowd Doing the Sourcing
Great journalism. Lots of it.
“Dr. Meowthiarty is the Mew Two of Crime!”
Live-Action Trailer for Great Detective Pikachu (Only a videogame (｡•́︿•̀｡) )
Nick Statt at The Verge: “The first ever live-action Pokémon movie will be Detective Pikachu” ヾ(＠^∇^＠)ノ
Jeff Grubb at VentureBeat: “‘Detective Pikachu’ movie was in the works long before Pokémon Go”
Nick Statt at The Verge: “The first ever live-action Pokémon movie will be Detective Pikachu” ヾ(＠^∇^＠)ノ
Jeff Grubb at VentureBeat: “‘Detective Pikachu’ movie was in the works long before Pokémon Go”
My Venezuela Nightmare
Mind Over Matter
Virtual Reality and Exoskeleton Help Paraplegics Partially Recover, Study Finds One patient, previously unable to stand due to a spinal cord injury, became capable of walking using a walker, braces and the assistance of a therapist, according to the study. This was all the more surprising because of the severity of the patients' injuries.
All I remember is her request that I not use her name.
When NBC commentator Al Trautwig felt it necessary to point out that U.S. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles' parents are biologically her grandparents, some on Twitter pushed back. Trautwig briefly dug in, tweeting "They may be mom and dad but they are NOT her parents.", then deleted the tweet and apologized. Cece Lederer of the Daily Dot says that this is just another example of how we still don't know how to talk about adoption.
"For God’s sakes, it’s just a snake vagina."
Among the Lizard People: Silent Connections at the Reptile Expo
The People's Car Gets PWNed
On the heels of reports of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche models being outfitted with firmware designed to fool environmental emissions tests, there now comes news that a vulnerability in keyless entry mechanisms of 100 million VWs made within the last 21 years can permit the cars to be unlocked by intruders carrying an Arduino kit.
it has only a vague personal sense of connection to me
Pharmaduke: bot combining Marmaduke comics + Erowid trip reports at random. (Previously, Previously)
Dan's Space Van
Canadian musician Danny Michel has a vintage 1978 Star Trek van, in which he interviews musicians in the front seat, before having them perform in the red velvet back of the van. Guests have included The Milk Carton Kids , astronaut-guitarist Chris Hadfield, and many other (mostly Canadian) musicians.
Rocky Mountain Construction makes roller coasters
Rocky Mountain Construction designs some of the best roller coasters in the world. Here are some first-person POV videos, from newest to oldest: Wildfire, Kolmården (T); Lightning Rod, Dollywood (T); Joker, SF Discovery Kingdom (IR); Storm Chaser, Kentucky Kingdom (IR); Wicked Cyclone, SF New England (IR); Twisted Colossus, SF Magic Mountain (IR); Goliath, SF Great America (T); Medusa Steel Coaster, SF Mexico (IR); Iron Rattler, SF Fiesta Texas (IR); Outlaw Run, Silver Dollar City (T); New Texas Giant, SF Over Texas (IR). [more inside]
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