Posts with Recent Comments
Abstract, electric and revealing.
Explore the beautiful, intricate paths of ships over a year - tracked from America's busiest ports to the open ocean via AIS marine tracking data.
"It's time once again to ask... WHERE IS HE NOW?"
In 2021, House House, the makers of Untitled Goose Game, created a proof-of-concept for an animation series involving the Goose and its hapless victims. It never made it to production, but they've released the proof-of-concept animation to Youtube. So for just four minutes of your time, please journey back to the beleaguered village, and watch the Untitled Goose Programme. (Previously and first on Untitled Goose Game)
Weird little guys who lie on Special Form 86
Everyone who joins the US military, seeks a security clearance, or applies for some government jobs must, as part of the background check process, fill out Standard Form 86. Questions on this form require applicants to disclose if they're members of organizations that seek to overthrow the US government or deprive people of their civil rights. Lying on this form is a felony, a serious crime that can result in months in prison, but indictments involving lying on this form are quite rare. Molly Conger, host of the Cool Zone Media podcast Weird Little Guys, looks into why this is, and the history of its use, in the episode titled Liar, Liar (57 minutes).
wind up tree
If the Wind Tree is deemed tall and large to occupy an allotted space, Wind Palm may be an ideal alternative. It is made up of three to five steel trunks & branches with 18 to 30 rotating leaves[ ]with the option of adding the solar panels at the bottom of the leaves for extra energy generation [designboom] [more inside]
Protip: use the clues
It’s Friday, so it’s a good time to try to Guess the (video/computer) game! Or to go back into the archives and try to guess some of the 859 previous games. (hat tip to Buried Treasure.)
A sea change into something rich and strange
Ten children drew their favourite sea creatures. Then Australia’s leading artists responded. Ken Done, Jonathan Zawada, Blak Douglas and others created companion pieces to children’s works celebrating sharks and rays. They’re now on display at the Australian Museum.
Rare western swamp tortoise returns to southern home
Hopes for future hatchlings outside Perth as rare western swamp tortoise returns to southern home.
An endangered tortoise that excited wildlife carers by surviving outside its only known habitats in Perth has returned home to its birthplace and site of a relocation trial in Western Australia's South West. [more inside]
"It's strange to see my old dolls again"
Tishani Doshi (Aeon, 09/16/2024), "Tender, yet creepy": "Tom sits in his box, one blue eye blinkered shut. I reach for him, and I am a girl again, gently rattling his head so his eye can become unstuck." Topics include Freud's "The Uncanny" [PDF], Baudelaire's "The Philosophy of Toys" (a.k.a. "Morale du joujou" and its excerpt "The Plaything of the Poor"), Rilke's "The Unfortunate Fate of Childhood Dolls" (a.k.a. "Puppen" with illustrations by Lotte Pritzel related to her dolls, etc., etc.), Ibsen's A Doll's House, and Mahasweta Devi's Urvashi and Johnny. See also Tishani Doshi's entry at the Poetry Foundation.
Franzelio
We will need to accept a little bit of cognitive dissonance
Is Trump’s power over the Republican Party waning, is Trumpism disintegrating? Let’s slow down a little bit. It’s important to note that almost all of these public defections are coming from relatively low-level and / or *former* Republican officials. Trumpism is still firmly in charge of the power centers of conservatism and dominates GOP politics. And yet, there was no comparable level of open dissent prior to the 2020 election; and in 2016, the opposite happened, as there was considerable hostility towards Trump among Republicans and leadings conservatives initially, right after Trump had come down the golden escalator to announce he was running for president – yet by the time of the election, almost all of them had united behind Trump as the undisputed leader of the Right. from Liz Cheney and the Problem of the Anti-Trump Republican [Democracy Americana]
"What exactly do you do?" "I buttle, sir."
Farmer invents machinery that smashes bejesus out of weed seeds
Farmer invents machinery that smashes bejesus out of weed seeds. Weeds cost Australia's crop farming industry around $3.3 billion dollars [US $2.25 billion dollars] each year, but a home-grown invention that crushes herbicide-resistant weed seeds could make that a problem of the past.
It's not just Lies about Immigrants... But Historical Nazi Lies...
Science communicator Rebecca Watson pointed out that what J D Vance and Donald Trump repeated and amplified about supposed Haitain Immigrants eating people's pets are not just lies... but historical Nazi "blood libel"... started by ACTUAL current Neo-Nazis in Springfield (at Anti-Haitian Rallies)... they've dragged grieving parents into the hate campaign as well.
You can find the transcript of that Youtube episode here, but I'll summarize the points below... [more inside]
Diddy Deeds
Combs (P Diddy) was denied bail and will remain in custody as he faces charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, [more inside]
More detail about Springfield and Haitians
Moral outrage at the big lie, but also plenty about why many Haitians are there, the transition costs, and their good effects on Springfield. I thought there was a government program to move Haitians to Springfield. No. There was a government program to move businesses to Springfield, followed by figuring out that there was a shortage of people of working age, and Haitians moved into the vacuum to everyone's advantage. [more inside]
Do people act ethically out of true morality or fear of consequences?
Ring of Gyges: A shepherd named Gyges discovers a magical ring that grants him the power of invisibility when he twists the ring on his finger. With this newfound power, Gyges seduces the queen, kills the king, and takes over the kingdom.
The Ring of Gyges is a dialogue featured in The Republic by Plato. The story raises a moral question: would people still act justly if they could act unjustly without fear of being caught or punished? [more inside]
It's Warlock Fall
At least according to Carter Vail, a musician on YouTube (and probably Tik Tok, but I am old). Let him tell you about the thing all guys do, how to succeed at wizarding school, or how to appreciate marine life. Or you could listen to his really good serious music if you are into that sort of thing, I guess.
Our energy system is stuck in the past
Fire has been our primary source of energy for over a million years, providing the essential heat needed to survive. This reliance on fire made sense when our principal energy needs were purely for heat. However, today’s energy demands have evolved far beyond this primal necessity. Unlike in past millennia, we now require more work than heat: we desire mobility, motors, electrical appliances, and data processing in greater quantities than we do warmth. Despite this transformation over the past century from heat demand to work demand, our fundamental energy supply methods have not changed much, and are still mostly heat generation. This has led to incredible inefficiency.... We need energy sources fit for an era of work demand, not heat demand. Fortunately, thanks to the rapid growth and cost decline of solar, wind, and electrification, “firepower” faces inexorable decline. from Energy after Fire [Rocky Mountain Institute]
the end and the beginning of history
"It is not often that one in the process of learning of, or reading, a book develops three different opinions about the book. I have heard of Lea Ypi’s Free after it became an international bestseller. I was even then somewhat intrigued by the topic, an autobiographical story of growing up in Albania at “the end of history”, given that Albania was somewhat of a black box (because of the isolationist policies followed by its long-time president Enver Hoxha). Yet since I had a uniform negative view about any personal reminiscences coming out of Eastern Europe, I was almost sure not to read the book? Why such mistrust?" Branko Milanovic with a thoughtful review of Lea Ypi's awardwinning Free: Coming of Age at the End of History.
ICJ's decision over the Palestinian occupation continues unwinding
UN General Assembly overwhelmingly calls for end of Israeli occupation The UNGA demanded that “Israel brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which constitutes a wrongful act of a continuing character entailing its international responsibility, and do so no later than 12 months”. || previously [more inside]