September 17, 2015
Showdown in Stumptown
In the midst of Portland, Oregon's ongoing building boom, one property in the Eastmoreland neighborhood has drawn special notice, as it’s home to three giant sequoias over 100 years old. When a local developer announced plans to cut them down to build two new homes, a coalition of neighbors and tree lovers banded together to raise $900,000 to buy the property. (A tree-sitter, perhaps unsurprisingly, has also been involved.) Things weren't looking good until an unexpected ally stepped in: South Park’s Matt Stone.
A proper scale model of the solar system
All those beautiful illustrations of the solar system and planetary orbits we find in textbooks, and books about space aren't really to scale. If the orbits were to scale then most of the planets would be too small to see in the image. So two guys decided to build and film a proper scale model of the solar system, out in the desert. [more inside]
Homework: "Who is God to me?"
Holly Salzman of Albuquerque, NM, had to attend 10 court-ordered sessions with counselor Mary Pepper to resolve co-parenting conflicts with her estranged husband. Local KRQE reports that the class has highly religious overtones, which Salzman disagrees with but she could not get the courts to change the counselor. [more inside]
Strangers Again
Judy Collins has released a new album, duets with artists such as Willie Nelson, Don McLean, Jimmy Buffett, Bhi Bhiman and a number of others. As expected, her voice is beautiful and ageless. The Spotify playlist is here. A video for her duet with Thomas Dybdahl (From Grace) is on Youtube. Enjoy...
Terrence Howard has a lot on his mind
Rolling Stone reporter Erik Hedegaard interviewed Terrence Howard about Empire and ... well, it's hard to explain.
Hot Lansing Nights for Tea Partiers Come to an End
Michigan State Representatives Todd Courser (82nd District) and Cindy Gamrat (80th District) were close allies. Tea Partiers from opposite sides of the state, they shared an office and staff, and when Gamrat was expelled from the Republican caucus for posting inside information on Facebook, Courser posted a 3,300-word defense of her. You know how this is going to turn out -- the married-to-other-people family-values Representatives were having an affair. [more inside]
That 60s Show
Not one of these hippies looks dirty, or stoned, or tuned out; and they all apparently were a lot happier then I was led to believe. Or maybe this is not representative. Neat pictures though.
The Sufi prophecy song
The Spooky Men's Chorale, an Australian male vocal group, have a song, Ba'hari Ghibb, which is described as a 13th century Sufi prophecy.
You will not be going into space today
The Ballad of Captain Dwight-The story of Ed Dwight, the first black American trained to be an astronaut, via the memory palace [more inside]
Survivor: Second Chance
Guerilla Gardener
Adam Purple passed away this last Monday. He suffered a heart attack while riding his bike across the Williamsburg Bridge. Adam Purple and the Garden of Eden (Vimeo).
Enter this command to bork your machine
Here is some information on the "Killer Poke" of the Commodore PET 2001 computer, an infamous command that could actually damage hardware, by causing its monitor to lose sync. Like this. [more inside]
This place sucks
Winds of change at Dyson - James Dyson built a better vacuum. Can he pull off a second industrial revolution? [more inside]
what happens when a parent's grief goes viral?
"While people have long used online outlets to grieve loved ones and public figures, the intense, intimate mourning rituals for kids like Ryan are something else entirely. And while these rituals create a much-needed space for mourning in a culture that treats grief like it's contagious, not everyone wants their child subjected to such celebrity. But once begun, it's hard to stop."
Freakin’ Awesome Karaoke Express (F.A.K.E.)
"One of my friends suggested we should do karaoke night so we found Freakin' Awesome Karaoke Express and decided to give them a go... We had a blast, their service was amazing and they had unbelievably great selection of songs... I never would have thought of seeking a mobile karaoke service, but they were fantastic... My friend had been to a block party where they were hired..." Only problem: Freakin' Awesome Karaoke Express does not exist. Fake reviews are endemic to online businesses, they are rated as trustworthy, and they are amazingly cheap to buy. [more inside]
jaaaa?
Jomsviking reenactors demonstrate the ancient sport of failing to hit each other with heavy bags. (SLYT)
You think you're pretty smart, don't you, Trebek?
Two Dogs One Ice Cream Cone
Two Dogs One Ice Cream Cone. (SLYT)
"We Own You"
Below the line
Instead of websites shutting their comment sections, might they want to keep them in order to remain in control of the conversation?
The Whole Run of Crime
The Best American Crime Writing Series (renamed The Best American Crime Reporting in 2006) ran from 2002 to 2010 and presented the finest in true crime journalism. Many of the stories are available from the online magazines in which they were first printed or from other legitimate sources. Links to all 105 available stories appear below the fold.
I have previously presented links to the stories from the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 editions. Some of those links have gone bad, so they have been reworked. [more inside]
Chooks in dinner suits.
Chooks in dinner suits. The Maremma dog project to protect the Little Penguins of Middle Island (previously) is going so well it's being continued.
Winners will be announced in New York City on November 18.
Reinvestigating Rape: Old Evidence, New Answers
In 2010, Plain Dealer reporter Rachel Dissell wrote about thousands of neglected rape kits at the Cleveland Police Department. Working with fellow reporter Leila Atassi, their continued, tenacious coverage led to the creation of a 'rape kit task force' to cover a massive backlog, and eventually, a law mandating timely testing. Since 2011, when the city began sending rape kits to the state’s crime lab, almost all of its 4,000 kits have been tested; of these, over 1,600 contained usable DNA. 350 cases have led to grand jury indictments, and as of this month, over 100 rapists have been convicted, some of multiple rapes. [more inside]
Kissing +243%
Ladies and gentlemen thank you for coming to this all-hands meeting. We'll get started just as soon as you open your binders to page 246: Infographic Breakdown of Video Game Console Traffic on YouPorn (NSFW Text)
How GOG.com Save And Restore Classic Videogames
"Preservation of old games involves more than just an extra patch. The journey from dusty unplayable relic to polished, cross-platform installer is a minefield of technical and legal obstacles. The team at Good Old Games remain the industry leaders in the restoration of classic PC games, tasked with reverse engineering code written more than 20 years ago, unraveling knotty licensing issues left behind by defunct development studios, and battling lethargy on the part of skeptical publishers. It’s a thrilling and, at times, gruelling process, but – as the GOG team will testify – it never fails to surprise." [more inside]
"and yet, the representations of the sexy little girl abound"
the "lolita" covers. Tubmlr user gowns (reposted by Hark! A Vagrant's Kate Beaton) examines the subject matter, history, and implications of official book covers for Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 Lolita. (some NSFW book images) [more inside]
The game they play in heaven
The eighth Rugby World Cup (@) kicks off tomorrow in England (and Wales), contested by twenty qualifying teams. While the All Blacks are unbackable (5/4) favourites to be the first team to retain Bill, the Cup is equally a celebration of the diverse world rugby family, offering the minnows a chance to pit themselves against the best. [more inside]
You sank my battleship... with probability!
Battleship Probability Calculator by C. Liam Brown. Finds the best squares to try during the game.
"it was very embarrassing at the time"
Great 1977 video interview with Mrs. Jessie Roestenberg describing a 1954 UFO experience in Staffordshire, West Midlands, England. This blog post shows part of a 1959 newspaper clipping with a photo of Mrs. Roestenberg (presumably from 1954, going by the apparent age of her children in the photo; click image for larger view), and a drawing she made of what she reported seeing, as well as an undated, unsourced photo of the by-now-elderly Mrs. Roestenberg holding an artist's rendering of the figures she described. [more inside]
How the Net was Won
A design doc to write home about
With the introduction of Google's new logo, why not take a look at the extensive documentation explaining the details of their Material Design philosophy?
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