August 30, 2015
"I caught this transparent gecko in my French press turned iridescent"
On /r/SubredditSimulator, all the posts and comments are made by bots. These bots generate text using Markov chains trained on humans' comments from different subreddits. Their posts are at times ordinary, surreal, revealing, and even self-aware. [more inside]
Wes Craven Dies at 76
frenemy mine
Fascinated by those Best of Enemies, Gore Vidal and William Buckley, going at it in 1968 live on national television? (youtube). It's Buckley against Vidal, but don't get pulled into the Buckley Myth [more inside]
An unlikely friendship and an end to the guilt
Juan Romero, the Ambassador Hotel busboy who cradled a dying Robert F. Kennedy after he was shot on June 5, 1968, carried the weight of that moment through the decades. Now, he says, "I don't carry the cross anymore."
“the high one” or “the great one.”
Mount McKinley Will Again Be Called Denali [New York Times]
President Obama announced on Sunday that Mount McKinley was being renamed Denali, restoring an Alaska Native name with deep cultural significance to the tallest mountain in North America. The move came on the eve of Mr. Obama’s trip to Alaska, where he will spend three days promoting aggressive action to combat climate change, and is part of a series of steps meant to address the concerns of Alaska Native tribes. The central Alaska mountain has been called Mount McKinley for more than a century. In announcing that Sally Jewell, the secretary of the interior, had used her power to rename it, Mr. Obama was paying tribute to the state’s Native population, which has referred to the site for generations as Denali, meaning “the high one” or “the great one.”
quaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh
Duck army (SLVine) - just six seconds of video but what seconds they are. (Requires audio)
hideous martha stewart vanity light fixture
We try our best to forget it was “all started by a mouse.”
Lucian hangs out next to Indiana Jones. Buford's favorite is Splash Mountain. Bernice prefers California Adventure. The Cats of Disneyland. [more inside]
Surfacing
In Surfacing, you are a signal traveling across the undersea network... In the process, narratives about the history of the cable network, the companies that construct it, and the ecologies that it runs through will orient you in your journey. [more inside]
"Anxious? Depressed? You might be suffering from capitalism"
In a new study from researchers at Columbia University, of nearly 22,000 full-time workers (from a dataset from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions), they saw that 18 percent of supervisors and managers reported symptoms of depression. For blue-collar workers, that figure was 12 percent, and for owners and executives, it was only 11 percent.
Chad Crow, the Super Chill Grandson of Jim Crow
"The Capricorns love you with a pure undying magic filled love"
In the summer of 2000 Heather Lynn and Kirsten Nordine started playing synthpop together in Grayslake, IL as The Capricorns. Only one song exists online from their first cassette, The Capricorns Are Gonna Get You. In 2001 Paroxysm Records released In the Zone, which gave birth to mixdisc classic The New Sound (live version). In 2003 there followed Go the Distance! Their last album, Pure Magical Love came in 2006. Lynn made a further single and album under the moniker Pure Magical Love, which evolved into a Chicago-based performance troupe. In 2013 Lynn staged her first rock opera, Templehead (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). A second rock opera, Genesis and Nemesis, is coming later this year. Morgan Claire Sirene wrote an appreciation of Lynn for Slutist, and she was interviewed about her life and career by Zachary Hutchinson. Nordine is a sometime member of Prince Rupert's Drops and releases music as Jantar.
Paper showing effectiveness Golden Rice on Vitamin A levels retracted
Paper showing positive effect of Golden Rice on Vitamin A levels in children retracted. Though the retraction wasn't for any issues around the science (which was solid), but around the ethics. [more inside]
Build it with timbits, glued together with maple syrup
Wisconsin governer Scott Kevin Walker, currently the 3rd favorite to be the GOP 2016 presidential candidate, is said to have been approached by voters with the idea of building a wall between the USA and Canada. Walker claims some voters supporting a northern border wall worry that terrorists could cross from Canada to the USA. It is unclear what such a wall would look like; the U.S.-Canada boundary is the longest international border in the world at 5,525 miles long, which includes the Alaska/Canada bit, and has many crossing points. To complicate the issue, Canada and the USA are in (currently non-war) dispute over their border in several locations.
I Could Do That
"So you look at a work of art and think to yourself, I could have done that. And maybe you really could have, but the issue here is more complex than that -- why didn't you? Why did the artist? And why does it have an audience?"
A primer from PBS Digital Studios, addressing common questions about modern art. (YT, 5:40)
A primer from PBS Digital Studios, addressing common questions about modern art. (YT, 5:40)
The End of the Appalachian Trail
"Where would they end it? At a stream? On a piece of grass?" Maine's Baxter State park, which hosts the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, pressures local and national groups affiliated with the AT to address their concerns of overuse or potentially find another northern terminus for the trail. [more inside]
Durham Pop-Up Chorus - no auditions
The Pop-Up Chorus in Durham, NC. has no auditions. Once a month, anyone can show up and sing - people of all ages do. Imperfection is embraced. [more inside]
Kyle Jean-Baptiste
Kyle Jean-Baptiste died in an accident on Friday at the age of 21. Mr. Jean-Baptiste joined the company of Les Miserables this summer after his college graduation, and became the first African-American man to play Jean Valjean on Broadway on June 23, while understudying the role. He recently announced on Facebook that he would be joining the Broadway cast of The Color Purple alongside Jennifer Hudson. His last performance as Valjean was on Thursday night. [more inside]
Dr. Oliver Sacks, 1933-2015
The clinical neurologist, author, former weightlifter, and popularizer of science has died of the metastatic melanoma that he announced in February had spread to his liver. A perennial guest on WNYC's broadcast of WNYC's Radiolab, he unfailingly came across as clever, kind, and self-deprecating (including about his prosopagnosia, or face blindness). Dr. Sacks remained engaged with science and the public until the end. [more inside]
How the ballpoint pen killed cursive
The New Markov
The Verge has developed a way to game the New Yorker cartoon caption contest (previously: 1 2 christ what an asshole 4), in the sense that roulette and chuck-a-luck are games.
« Previous day | Next day »